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BV  1520  .H32  1874 
Hart,  John  S.  1810-1877. 
The  Sunday-school  idea 


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"  ' '  Mil 


THE 


SUNDAY-SCHOOL 

IDEA: 


AN   EXPOSITION 

OF    THE 


PRINCIPLES  WHICH  UNDERLIE  THE  SUNDAY- 
SCHOOL  CAUSE, 


SETTING    FORTH 


ITb  OBJECTS,  ORGANIZATION,  METHODS  AND 
CAPABILITIES. 


By   JOHN   S.   HART,  LL.D., 

Senior  Editor  of  The  Sunday-School  Tivies,  Principal  o/  the  Nevj  Jersey 
State  Normal  School,  author  of  "  Thoughts  on  Sabbath-Schools,"  "  The 
Golden  Censer,"  "Removing  Mountains"  "Mistakes  of  Edu- 
cated Men,"  "In  the  School  Room,"  "Composition  and 
Rhetoric,"  "English  Gratnmar,"  etc.,  etc. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

J.    C.    GARRIGUES    &    CO 

No.  608    Arch   Street. 
1874. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1870,  by 

7.  C.  GARRIGUES  &  CO. 
m  the  ofBce  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


Westcott   &    Thomson, 
StereotyPers,  Philada, 


PREFACE. 


The  intention  of  this  book  is  to  give  a  general  survey  of 
the  whole  subject  of  Sunday-schools.  I  have  considered, 
first,  the  object  of  the  institution,  in  its  relations  both  to  the 
individual  scholar  and  to  the  great  work  of  Christianizing 
the  world.  Next,  the  organization  of  the  Sunday-school 
has  come  under  review,  and  the  true  basis  for  such  an  or- 
ganization has  been  defined.  After  this,  I  have  discussed 
at  great  length  the  varied  duties  and  qualifications  of  the  Su- 
perintendent and  of  the  Teacher, — the  men  and  women  by 
whose  labors  and  counsels  the  organization  is  to  be  carried 
on  and  made  effectual.  Besides  the  work  to  be  done  by 
these  in  their  separate  individual  capacities,  is  that  depend- 
ent upon  concerted  action,  and  this  has  led  to  a  general  re- 
view of  the  various  associations  of  teachers,  whether  for 
their  own  improvement,  or  for  the  promotion  of  the  cause 
at  large.  The  important  topic  of  Sunday-school  literature 
has  been  discussed  at  considerable  length,  and  suggestions 
have  been  made  as  to  the  best  methods  of  selecting  Sun- 

3 


i        °  PREFACE. 

day-school  books  and  of  managing  the  library.  Sunday- 
school  anniversaries,  Sunday-school  missions,  the  mode  of 
starting  a  new  school,  the  relations  of  the  Sunday-school  to 
the  family,  to  the  church  and  the  minister.  Teachers'  In- 
stitutes, Teachers'  Normal  classes,  with  a  large  variety  of 
other  affiliated  topics,  have  been  passed  under  review. 

The  subject  having  for  many  years  engaged  no  small 
share  of  my  thoughts,  there  is  in  fact  hardly  any  aspect  of 
it  which  has  not,  at  one  time  or  another,  come  up  for  prac- 
tical consideration.  I  have  aimed  accordingly  in  the  pres- 
ent volume  to  give  my  whole  rounded  idea  of  what  the 
Sunday-school  is,  and  of  what  it  is  capable.  I  have  aimed, 
however,  to  discuss  principles  rather  than  methods ;  and  in 
those  instances  in  which  particular  methods  have  been  ad- 
vocated, they  have  always  been  given  in  connection  with 
the  principles  which  underlie  them  and  govern  them.  To 
the  intelligent  workman,  here  as  elsewhere,  the  rationale 
of  what  he  does  is  more  important  than  the  particular  mode 
of  doing  it.  Methods  change  or  die  out,  principles  are 
eternal.  J.  S.  H. 

Trenton,  N.  J.,  October,  1870. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 

OBJECTS   OF  THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

PAGB 

1.  The  Great  Object— Conversion  of  the  Scholars.  14 

Building  up  the  Converts  in  Holiness 15 

Instructing  them  in  Bible  Knowledge 16 

The  Work  before  the  Church 17 

Duty  in  regard  to  Religious  Instruction 18 

What  the  Church  must  do 19 

Alarming  Deficiencies 20 

2.  The  Mission  Work  of  the  Sunday-school  Enter- 

prise   21 

The  Aggressive  Work 22 

More  than  Missionaries  Needed 23 

Christianity  essentially  Aggressive 24 

Duty  to  those  without 25 

Evangelization  by  means  of  the  Sunday-school 26 

Duty  of  Churches  as  such 27 

The  Sunday-school  a  Missionary  Agency 29 

Supporting  Missionaries 30 

Mission  Work  Everywhere 31 

• 

CHAPTER    II. 

SUNDAY-SCHOOL  ORGANIZATION. 

Basis  of  Organization 35 

Appointment  of  Superintendent 37 


6  CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


Appointment  of  other  Officers 40 

1.  The  Secretary 40 

2.  The  Librarian 41 

3.  The  Chorister 42 

Relation  of  Teachers  to  Superintendent 43 

*  CHAPTER    III. 
THE  SUPERINTENDENT. 

1.  The  First  Qualification— Earnest  Piety 50 

2.  Executive  Ability 52 

3.  Things  not  Wanted 54 

1.  Not  Fussy 54 

2.  Not  Fretful " 54 

3.  Not  Noisy 55 

4.  Not  a  Talker. 56 

4.  Putting  Forth  a  Personal  Influence 57 

5.  Knowing  what  is  Going  on  in  the  School 61 

6.  Knowledge  of  the  Lesson 64 

7.  Bestowing  Attention  upon  all 66 

8.  Sympathizing  with  all 67 

9.  The  Work  of  Classifying  the  School 69 

Principles  of  Classification 70 

I-  Age 71 

2.  Size 72 

3.  Social  Condition 74 

4.  Intellectual  Progress 75 

5.  Individual  Peculiarities 76 

10.  Maintaining  Order 78 

1.  Doing  Things  Quietly 80 

2.  Doing  Things  at  the  Right  Time *  83 

3.  Keeping  Things  and  Persons  in  Place 84 

1 1.  Exercising  Government 87 

12.  Making  a  Programme 93 

13.  Opening  School  Punctually 99 

14.  Preparation  for  the  Opening 100 


CONTENTS,  7 

PAGE 

15.  Giving  out  Notices  in  School loi 

16.  Giving  out  the  Hymn 103 

1.  Waiting  for  the  Scholars  to  Find  the  Place 103 

2.  Care  in  Announcing  the  Place 104 

3.  Grammatical  Blunders 106 

4.  Reading  just  what  is  to  be  Sung 106 

5.  Giving  the  Key-note 106 

6.  Looking  while  Reading 107 

1 7.  Reading  the  Scriptures 108 

1.  Avoiding  Formality 109 

2.  Being  in  Earnest lie 

3.  Studying  the  Passage Ill 

4.  Meditating  over  it 1 12 

5.  Reading  to  One's  Self 113 

6.  Number  of  Verses  to  be  Read 114 

7.  Keeping  the  School  in  your  Eye 114 

18.  The  Opening  Prayer 115 

1.  An  Example 116 

2.  Another  Example ..  118 

3.  The  Superintendent's  Manner  in  Prayer 119 

4.  A  Devout  Pause  before  and  after 120 

5.  Concluding  Remarks 121 

-CHAPTER    IV. 

THE  TEACHER. 

1.  The  First  Qualification 124 

2.  Winning  Souls 128 

3.  Help  from  the  Great  Teacher ; .  131 

4.  Having  an  Aim 136 

1.  To  Secure  Regularity  of  Attendance 138 

2.  To  Secure  Study  of  the  Lesson 138 

3.  To  Maintain  Order 139 

4.  To  Teach  Something 142 

5.  To  Teach  Something  Additional  every  Sunday 143 

6.  To  Teach  Something  to  every  Scholar 143 


8  CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

7.  To  make  your  Teaching  Scriptural ,.   145 

8.  To  get  the  Scholars  to  Commit  to  Memory 146 

9.  To  Secure  the  Conversion  of  your  Scholars 147 

5.  Difference  between  Teaching  in  Sunday-school  and  in 

other  Schools I49 

1.  None  of  the  Ordinary  School  Penalties 149 

2.  The  Subject  of  Instruction  more  Practical 150 

3.  More  Committing  to  Memory  Required 152 

6.  Class-Teaching 153 

7.  How  to  Question  a  Class 157 

1.  A  Conviction  that  the  Power  is  Attainable 158 

2.  A  Clear  Idea  of  the  Object  of  Questioning 159 

3.  The  Mode  of  Questioning 162 

a.  The  Teacher  should  not  limit  himself  to  the  Book.  162 

b.  He  must  be  thoroughly  at  home  in  the  Lesson..   162 

c.  He  must  make  the  Scholars  give  back  all  the 

ideas  he  gives  them 163 

d.  He  must  Skip  about  the  Class 164 

8.  How  to  Conduct  a  Recitation 165 

1.  Closing  the  Books 165 

2.  Reciting  the  Verses 166 

3.  Finding  the  References 167 

4.  Skipping  about 168 

5.  Keeping  all  the  Class  engaged 169 

6.  Making  the  Scholars  do  the  Talking 1 70 

9.  Teaching  out  of  Book '171 

10.  Holding  the  Attention  of  a  Class I77 

1 1.  Keeping  the  Scholars  busy 184 

12.  Gaining  the  Affections  of  the  Scholars 189 

13.  Reaching  the  Comprehension  of  the  Scholars 193 

14.  Variety  in  Teaching I99 

1.  In  Manner 202 

2.  In  Topics 203 

3.  In  Illustrations 204 

4.  Necessity  of  Freshness 205 

15.  Assigning  a  Definite-  Lesson 206 


COXTENTS.  9 

PAGB 

16.  Preparation  for  the  Lesson 210 

I.   Committing  the  Verses  to  Memory 212 

•  2.  The  Parallel  Texts 215 

3.  Use  of  the  Question-Book 215 

4.  Finding  Additional  Illustrations 217 

5.  Critical  Study  of  Meaning 217 

6.  Providing  Practical  Thoughts 219 

7.  Beginning  Early  in  the  Week 220 

8.  Seeking  the  Aid  of  the  Great  Teacher 220 

17.  Getting  the  Scholars  to  Learn  the  Lesson 221 

18.  Acquaintance  with  the  general  Contents  of  the  Scrtptures  229 

19.  Irregular  Attendance  of  Teachers 230 

20.  Visiting  Scholars 233 

21.  Keeping  up  with  the  Times 237 

1.  He  should  take  a  Teacher's  Paper 139 

2.  He  should  have  a  Teacher's  Library 241 

3.  He  should  attend  Conventions 241 

CHAPTER    V. 

TEACHERS   IN  COUNCIL. 

1.  The  Necessity  of  Social  Gatherings 244 

2.  State  Conventions 248 

3.  County  Conventions 252 

4.  County  Institutes 257 

Institute  Programme 260 

5.  Teachers'  Weekly  Meeting 265 

CHAPTER   VI. 
THE  SUNDAY-SCHOOL   LIBRARY. 

Part  I.— How  to  Select  the  Library. 

The  Enormous  Amount  of  Sunday-school  Books 273 

Useless  Lamentations  not  Recommended 275 

How  shall  the  Selection  be  made  ? 277 


lO  CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

A  Reading  Committee 279 

How  is  the  Committee  to  be  Appointed  ? 280 

Who  are  fitted  to  be  on  the  Committee 282 

1.  Persons  of  Education  and  Culture 282 

2.  Persons  well  acquainted  with  Christian  Doctrine. .  282 

3.  Persons  having  Sympathy  with  Children 283 

What  Sort  of  Books  should  be  Selected 284 

The  Actual  Selection 286 

What  Books  are  Unsuitable 288 

Part  II. — How  to  Manage  the  Library. 

Difficulties  in  the  Ordinary  Methods 292 

1.  Books  Disappear 292 

2.  Inconveniences  in  the  Manner  of  Selecting  Books 

from  the  Library 293 

3.  The  Interruption  to  the  Lessons  caused  by  the  usual 

Methods  of  Managing  the  Library 296 

The  Plan  Proposed 298 

1.  A  Printed  Catalogue  to  be  used 299 

2.  The  Scholar's  Library  Card. 300 

3.  The  Use  of  a  Register  Number 301 

4.  The  Selection  of  Books  to  be  made  at  Home 302 

5.  Returning  Cards  and  Books 302 

6.  Giving  out  Cards  and  Books 303 

7.  Mode  of  Numbering  the  Books 303 

The  Work  of  the  Librarian 303 

1.  The  Use  of  the  Checks 3^4 

2.  The  Use  of  the  Register 305 

3.  Recapitulation  of  the  Librarian's  Work 309 

CHAPTER    VIL 

RELATIONS     OF    THE    SUNDAY-SCHOOL     TO     OTHER  RE- 
LIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS. 

1.  The  Sunday-school  and  the  Church 310 

2.  The  Sunday-school  and  the  Minister 318 


CONTENTS.  II 

PAGB 

3.  The  Sunday-school  and  Parents 324 

4.  Attendance  of  Scholars  in  Church , 328 

5.  School  Accommodations 335 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

MISCELLANEOUS  TOPICS. 

1.  Sunday-School  Music 340 

1.  Mere  Noise  not  Song 342 

2.  Mere  Song  not  Sufficient 342 

3.  The  Music  of  the  School  should  be  such  as  will  be 

Continued  in  the  Church 343 

2.  Sunday-school  Anniversaries 346 

3.  Closing  Schools  in  Winter 355 

4.  Closing  Schools  in  Summer 359 

5.  After  Vacation 365 

6.  Treatment  of  New  Scholars ^ 36S 

7.  Absenteeism 374 

8.  Uniform  Lessons 379 

9.  How  to  Start  a  New  School 385 

1.  Seek  Guidance  from  above 385 

2.  Be  Prepared  to  make  Sacrifices 386 

3.  Read  on  the  Subject 387 

4.  Study  the  Ground 387 

5.  Get  together  your  Fellow- workers 387 

6.  Make  a  Family  Visitation  of  the  Neighborhood 389 

7.  Secure  a  Place  for  holding  the  School 390 

8.  The  Cost  of  Starting  a  School 390 

9.  Choice  of  Superintendent 392 

10.  Opening  the  Meeting 392 

1 1.  Classifying  the  Scholars 393 

12.  Method  of  Classification 393 

13.  The  Teachers  making  themselves  Acquainted  with 

the  Scholars 394 

14.  The  Superintendent  to  have  a  Class 394 

15.  The  Secretary  and  Librarian  not  to  have  a  Class 395 


12  CONTENTS. 


PAGE 


i6.  The  First  Session 395 

17.  Constitution  and  By-laws 396 

Are  we  making  Progress  ? 396 

1.  A  Better  Theory  of  the  Object  of  the  Sunday-school.   397 

2.  The  Relation   of  the  Sunday-school  to  the  Church 

better  understood 398 

3.  Greater  Facilities  in  the  way  of  Books,  Maps,  etc 399 

4.  Improvement  in  Sunday-school  Music 401 

5.  Better  Machinery  for  Improving  the  Character  of  the 

Schools 402 

6.  Better  Understanding  of  the  Functions  of  the  Sunday-      ' 

School  in  Developing  the  Lay  Talent  of  the  Church  403 

7.  A   Hopeful   Discontent  with  the  Present   State   of 

Things 4(^6 


THE 


S  U  N  D  A  Y- S  C  H,,,^_^,__ 


CHAPTER    I 


JAZ 


TUB  OBJECTS  OF  THE  SUNDAT-SCHOOL, 


N  conducting  any  enterprise,  ir  is  important 
I  frequently  to  recur  to  first  principles  and  to 
define  clearly  the  objects  for  which  the  en- 
terprise is  undertaken.  In  the  excitement  of  pur- 
suit, it  is  not  uncommon  for  men  to  forget  what  it 
is  that  they  are  pursuing,  and  to  rush  on  from  the 
mere  love  of  the  chase,  regardless  of  the  end.  Few 
social  agencies  are  more  useful  than  the  fire  com- 
panies of  our  cities.  Yet  how  frequently  do  we  see 
more  property  destroyed  by  the  exuberant  and  heed- 
less energy  of  an  excited  fire  company  than  by  the 
fire  itself! 

I  do  not  mean  to  compare  the  Sunday-school  or- 
ganization to  the  Fire  Department.      Yet  Sunday- 
2  13 


14       OBJECTS   OF   THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

school  teachers,  equally  with  firemen,  need  to  have 
clear  ideas  of  what  it  is  that  they  are  called  to  do. 
The  teacher,  equally  with  the  fireman,  for  the  want 
of  definite  aims  may  beat  the  air,  or  may  even  do 
harm  where  he  seeks  to  do  good. 

What  then  is  the  aim  of  the  Sunday-school.?* 

The  I^trst  and  Great  Object. 

The  first,  great  aim,  undoubtedly,  is  to  bring  the 
scholars  to  a  saving  knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ — to 
secure  their  conversion.  The  teacher  should  aim  at 
this  just  as  steadily  and  fixedly  as  the  fireman  aims, 
above  and  before  all  other  considerations,  to  save  the 
life  of  a  forgotten  sleeper  from  the  flames  of  a  blazing 
dwelling.  To  the  accomplishment  of  this  his  first 
end,  all  other  ends  are  to  the  teacher  subordinate  and 
secondar3\  Until  the  accomplishment  of  this,  all 
other  results  are  nugatory.  For  this  he  labors,  stud- 
ies, visits,  prays,  agonizes.  The  burden  of  his 
thoughts  and  desires  is.  How  shall  I  compass  the 
conversion  of  my  pupils?  This,  beyond  all  question, 
is  the  first  and  main  end  of  the  Sunday-school.  The 
institution  is  not  a  missionary  society,  or  a  tempe- 
rance society,  or  an  anti-tobacco  society,  or  a  debat- 
ing society,  or  a  school  for  teaching  history,  geogra- 
phy, literature  and  antiquities,  but  a  school  to  do  for 
the  young  what  the  church  is  doing — to  bring  them 
to  the  knowledge  of  Christ.  Nor  is  it  an  institution 
above,  or  below,  or  outside  of,  or  in  any  way 
antagonistic  to  the  church,  but  rather  it  is  a  particu- 


OBJECTS    OF   THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL.       15 

lar  mode  in  which  the  church  itself  is  carrying  ou( 
the  behests  of  its  Lord. 

Building  tip  Converts  in  Holiness,  The  church, 
while  aiming  primarily  at  the  conversion  of  souls, 
does  not  stop  at  this  naked  result.  When  a  soul  is, 
converted  to  God,  the  church  does  not  then  give  up 
all  care  for  it,  and  leave  it  to  struggle  on  in  its  new 
career  unaided  and  alone.  As  well  almost  might  the 
mother  abandon  her  new-born  babe,  and  give  her 
energies  forthwith  to  other  cares.  The  soul  that  is 
new-born  into  the  kingdom  needs  continual  watch- 
fulness and  fostering  care.  This  is  especially  true  of 
those  regenerated  in  early  youth.  The  tenderer  the 
years  at  which  they  are  converted,  the  greater  the 
care  and  watchfulness  required  after  their  conversion. 
A  teacher  whose  labors  should  be  blessed  by  the  con- 
version of  all  the  members  of  his  class  would  be 
strangely  derelict  in  duty  were -he  then  to  abandon 
his  class  as  no  longer  needing  his  care,  and  go  off  in 
search  of  other  scholars  to  be  converted.  Christ  is 
glorified  not  only  by  the  conversion  of  souls,  but  by 
their  steadfastness  in  the  faith  and  their  growth  in 
holiness.  If  a  child,  after  being  truly  converted,  is 
left  to  go  astray  and  fall  into  sin,  and  to  become 
through  life  a  weak  and  puny  Christian,  though  he 
may  be  finally  saved,  he  yet  misses  much  of  the  glory 
and  brightness  of  the  Christian  life,  and  he  brings 
much  dishonor  upon  the  cause. 

We  must  aim,  then,  not  only  to  bring  the  lambs 
into  the  fold,  but   to  keep  them   there,  and  to  give 


1 6       OBJECTS   OF  THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

them  due  nurture  and  protection.  The  Sunday- 
school  is  an  agency  of  the  church  specially  suited  to 
do  this  part  of  the  Christian  work-  The  young 
Christian  needs  to  be  thoroughly  grounded  in  doc- 
trine. When  a  scholar  is  converted  and  joins  the 
church,  our  work  with  him  is  just  begun.  We  must 
patiently  and  faithfully  teach  him  the  doctrines  of 
the  Bible.  The  truths  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  are 
the  aliment  by  which  the  Christian  grows.  What 
the  young  disciple  especially  needs  is,  not  only  ex- 
hortation, but  teaching.  The  pastor  who  is  wise 
will  spend  much  time  in  simple,  instructive  dis- 
courses, having  for  their  aim  to  build  up  the  young 
of  his  flock  in  sound  Christian  knowledge,  and  he 
will  regard  with  peculiar  satisfaction  those  of  his 
helpers  and  fellow-laborers  who  in  the  Sunday- 
school  carry  out  in  detail,  and  apply  to  personal  and 
individual  cases,  the  portions  of  doctrine  which  he 
from  the  pulpit  distributes  in  the  mass  and  to  the 
whole  congregation. 

Instruction  in  Bible  Knowledge,  Nor  should 
the  teacher  wait  until  a  child  is  converted  before  be- 
ginning to  instruct  him  in  the  truths  of  the  Bible  and 
the  duties  of  the  Christian  life.  The  doctrines  of 
the  Bible,  it  should  be  remembered,  are  not  only 
useful  for  growth  in  grace,  but  they  are  the  most 
efficient  means  of  conversion.  While  the  teacher 
should  not  neglect  the  duty  of  personal  appeal  and 
exhortation,  yet  let  him  not  forget  that  there  is  a 
mighty  power  in  God's  word  to  pierce  the  heart  and 


OBJECTS   OF   THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL.       1/ 

conscience.  Let  him  unceasingly  plant  this  divine 
seed  in  the  minds  of  his  scholars.  It  may  lie  long 
before  it  is  quickened.  But  in  time  it  will  take  root 
and  grow.  The  work  of  grace  in  a  heart  thus 
thoroughly  indoctrinated  in  Scripture  truth  is  much 
more  glorious  than  that  fitful  excitement  sometimes 
wrought  by  mere  passionate  appeals  to  the  feelings. 

The  great  aim  of  the  Sunday-school,  then,  is  the 
conversion  of  the  young  and  the  building  up  of  its 
converts  in  holiness  of  heart  and  life,  and  its  great 
means  are  the  indoctrination  of  the  young,  both  be- 
fore and  after  conversion,  in  the  truths  of  the  Bible. 

But  this  is  confining  our  views  to  a  single  school. 
Let  us  endeavor  to  look  beyond  this  single  point,  and 
get  a  view  of  the  Sunday-school  enterprise  in  its 
broader  fnd  more  general  aspects. 

The   Work  Before  us. 

It  is  for  Christians  to  Christianize  the  world.  This 
is  among  the  plainest  postulates  of  the  gospel  scheme. 
Another  truth  equally  fundamental  is  that  education 
is  the  main  agency  to  be  used  in  the  work  of  Chris- 
tianizatiori.  Children  believe  what  they  are  taught 
to  believe.  They  are  what  they  are  trained  to  be. 
After  all  necessary  deductions  and  abatements  for 
individual  cases,  this  is  the  great  fact  in  human  his- 
tory. As  the  twig  is  bent  the  tree  is  inch'ned.  Teach- 
ing and  training  make  the  man.  Teaching  and 
training  make  the  nation.  There  are  no  means  more 
used  and  blessed  by  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the  work  of 
2*  B 


iS       OBJECTS    OF  THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL, 

turning  men  to  Christ  and  of  establishing  his  king- 
dom in  the  world  than  this  of  education.  Tlie 
church  itself  is  only  the  school  of  Christ,  in  which  all 
are  alternately  scholars  and  teachers,  ever  learning 
and  teaching  the  truths  which  Christ  has  promul- 
gated for  the  salvation  of  the  world. 

Duty  of  the  Church  to  give  Religious  Teaching 
to  the  young.  The  Sunday-school  is  not  an  insti- 
tution by  itself,  having  an  independent  existence  and 
organization  of  its  own,  but  is  only  the  church  work- 
ing in  that  particular  way  while  carrying  out  its 
appointed  mission  of  evangelizing  the  world.  The 
duty  of  giving  a  Christian  education  to  the  young  has 
been  laid  upon  the  church  by  the  Master,  and  this 
duty,  it  has  been  found,  can  best  be  discharged  by 
means  of  the  Sunday-school.  Children  may  indeed 
be  taught  the  doctrines  and  precepts  of  the  Bible 
privately  at  home  by  their  parents  or  by  others  spe- 
cially employed  for  the  purpose.  The  same  is  true 
of  all  parts. of  a  child's  education.  He  may  be  taught 
the  languages  and  the  various  sciences  at  home  by 
his  parents  or  by  private  tutors.  Many  persons  pre- 
fer this  method  of  education.  But  it  is  easy  to  see 
that  not  one  in  a  thousand,  perhaps  not  one  in  ten 
thousand,  has  the  means  to  educate  his  children  in 
this  way.  Few  parents  have  themselves  the  educa- 
tion or  the  leisure  to  discharge  the  duty  personally, 
and  still  fewer  have  the  wealth  to  enable  them  to 
employ  a  private  tutor.  Religious  teaching  is  no 
exception  to  this  remark.     It  would  be  a  sad  day  for 


OBJECTS    OF   THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL.       19 

the  chinch  and  for  the  world  if  no  children  were  to 
receive  religious  teaching  and  training  but  those  who 
had  educated  and  godly  parents  able  and  willing  to 
do  the  work.  To  the  mass  of  mankind,  the  ninety  and 
nine  out  of  the  hundred,  knowledge  comes  by  school- 
ing. The  3'oung  learn  the  doctrines  and  precepts  of 
the  Bible  most  readily  and  effectually,  just  as  they 
learn  most  readily  the  rules  of  arithmetic  and  gram-  y 
mar — namely:  by  going  to  school  for  the  purpose, 
by  making  a  business  of  it.  Any  other  method  is 
apt  to  be  fitful,  irregular  and  inadequate.  If  the 
great  body  of  children  in  the  community  are  to  be 
instructed  S3'stematically  and  effectually  in  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Christian  religion,  and  if  this  instruction 
cannot  conveniently  be  given  in  the  week-day  school, 
then  we  must  have  a  school  especially  for  the  purpose 
on  Sunday,  and  this  Sunday-school  must  be  made  as 
efficient  as  the  talent,  the  education,  the  wealth  and 
the  fidelity  of  the  church  to  her  Master  can  make 

it. 

What  the  Church  must  do. 

The  church  must  aim,  first,  to  bring  into  the  school 
all  the  children  in  her  borders  who  are  of  school  age, 
and  secondly,  to  give  to  the  school  the  very  highest 
efficiency  of  which  it  is  capable.  The  church  is  not 
acting  up  to  the  exigencies  of  the  case  until  it  is 
found  willing  to  expend  upon  this  work  an  amount 
of  energy  and  liberality  commensurate  with  that 
which  the  State  spends  upon  secular  education. 
The  city  of  New  York  alone  spends  annually  upon 


20       OBJECTS   OF  THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

her  dally  public-schools  more  money  than  is  ex- 
pended by  all  the  Christians  of  the  United  States  on 
Sunday-schools.  So  long  as  such  a  state  of  things 
exists,  so  long  as  the  Sunday-school  is  sustained  in 
this  feeble,  half-hearted  way,  let  croakers  and  unbe- 
lievers cease  to  wail  over  its  failings  and  short-com- 
ings. The  Sunday-school  is  not  accomplishing  what 
it  ought  to  accomplish.  Nobody  knows  this  more 
fully,  nobody  bewails  it  more  truly,  than  I  do.  But 
I  also  as  truly  and  fully  believe  that  the  Sunday- 
school  may  be  all  that  is  claimed  for  it,  that  it  may 
accomplish  all  that  is  legitimately  required  of  it,  that 
it  may  teach  its  pupils  the  doctrines  of  religion  and 
train  them  in  habits  of  piety,  just  as  thoroughly  as 
these  same  children  on  the  other  days  of  the  week 
are  taught  and  trained  in  the  daily  schools  how  to 
read,  write  and  spell.  But  to  do  this  the  church 
of  course  must  use  adequate  means  and  must  go 
about  the  work  in  good  earnest. 

Alarming  Deficiencies.  There  is  no  disguising 
the  fact  that  fully  one-half  the  juvenile  population  of 
the  community  is  out  of  the  Sunday-school,  and  of 
this  half  all  except  the  most  inconsiderable  fraction 
are  outside  of  religious  instruction  and  influence. 
The  good  people  who  go  to  church  and  to  Sunday- 
school  themselves,  and  who  see  with  their  own  eyes 
the  crowds  of  others  who  attend  the  church  and  the 
school,  can  hardly  be  made  to  believe  the  portentous 
fact  which  I  have  named.  If  they  might  with  pro- 
priety on  a  Sunday  morning,  instead   of  going  to 


OBJECTS    OF   THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL.       2i 

church,  take  a  stroll  in  the  fields  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  village  or  town,  and  see  the  hundreds  of  idle 
boys  and  young  men  on  almost  every  open  lot  en- 
gaged in  the  so-called  sport  of  base  ball,  which  has 
become  such  a  national  mania,  they  might  perhaps 
realize  a  little  better  the  startling  facts  revealed  by 
the  census.  Is  the  church  doing  anything  in  refer 
ence  to  this  evil  at  all  commensurate  with  its  gigan- 
tic character? 

The  Mission   Work  of  the  Sunday-school  Enter- 
prise. 

The  Sunday-school  work  of  the  country  is  clearly 
divisible  into  two  heads.  The  first  contemplates  the 
perfecting  of  the  schools  which  exist,  particularly 
of  those  which  are  connected  with  old  and  well- 
established  churches.  This  undoubtedly  is  a  great 
work.  Of  the  more  than  one  hundred  thousand 
existing  schools,  how  few  are  accomplishing  all  that 
they  might  accomplish !  What  a  power  to  the 
church  this  agency  would  be  if  its  machinery  were 
all  complete  and  thoroughly  efficient !  If  our  Sun- 
day-schools had  even  the  efficiency  and  the  com- 
pleteness of  our  week-day  schools,  though  the  latter 
are  far  from  being  models,  what  an  impulse  would 
be  given  to  the  healthful  life  and  activity  of  the 
church,  and  to  the  growth  of  godliness  among  men  ! 
Most  assuredly,  the  perfecting  of  our  existing  schools 
is  one  great  department  of  the  Sunday-school  work 
in  this  country. 


22       OBJECTS  OF   THE   SUNDAT-SCHOOL. 

The  Aggressive  Work.  But  the  aggressive  work 
of  the  Sunday-school  enterprise  is  still  greater  and 
more  important.  If  the  four  millions  or  more  of 
children  who  attend  the  Sunday-school  are  very  im- 
perfectly taught,  and  receive  comparatively  little 
benefit,  let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  not  less  than  five 
millions  attend  no  school,  and  are  entirely  without 
the  means  of  religious  instruction.  The  very  poorest 
school  that  was  ever  kept  together  is  better  than  no 
school.  The  child  who  attends  most  irregularly,  and 
has  a  teacher  of  the  very  smallest  qualifications,  is 
better  off  than  the  child  who  goes  to  no  school  and 
spends  his  Sunday  in  roaming  through  the  streets  or 
the  fields.  Every  well-conducted  inquiry  develops 
almost  uniformly  the  fact  that  more  than  one-half 
of  the  youth  of  the  land  are  growing  up  in  ignorance 
of  God  and  of  Bible  truth,  attending  neither  school 
nor  church,  many  of  them  unable  to  read,  and  even 
these,  by  reason  of  the  vicious  and  depraving  litera- 
ture with  which  young  minds  are  poisoned,  being  for 
the  most  part  better  oft'  than  those  who  can  read. 

This,  then,  is  the  aggressive  work  of  the  Sunday- 
school  enterprise.  The  people  of  God  have  in  hand 
the  invasion  of  this  vast  outlying  mass  of  neglected 
ignorance  and  vice.  They  aim  at  nothing  less  than 
to  bring  into  the  Sunday-school,  and  under  religious 
influence,  every  child  who  is  willing,  or  can  be  per- 
suaded, to  come.  The  Sunday-school  has  become  a 
leading  agency  by  which  the  church  seeks  to  fulfil 
its  mission  of  evangelizing  the  entire  population.     It 


OBJECTS   OF   THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL.       23 

is  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word  a  missionary  enter- 
prise. It^  is  a  work  in  which  every  Christian  who 
is  in  bodily  health  may  give  personal  service.  Not 
every  one  can  personally  preach  Christ  to  the 
heathen.  The  most  of  us  must  content  ourselves 
with  giving  our  money  to  send  others.  But  in 
bringing  neglected  children  into  the  Sunday-school, 
almost  the  entire  body  of  Christians  can  engage  per- 
sonally. It  is  a  work  which  can  be  adequately 
accomplished  in  no  other  way  than  by  the  personal 
service  of  the  great  body  of  Christians. 

More  than  Alissionaries  Needed,  A  few  city 
missionaries  scattered  here  and  there,  a  few  scores 
or  even  hundreds  of  missionaries  in  the  West,  cannot 
accomplish  this  work.  The  work  is  too  great,  too 
pervading,  too  widespread,  to  be  effectually  reached 
by  any  mere  partial,  or  local,  or  transient  effort. 
We  must  have,  indeed,  our  city  missionaries  and 
our  Western  missionaries,  and  we  must  multiply  them 
twenty-fold.  But  these,  however  multiplied,  cannot 
do  the  work.  As  well  might  a  few  gardeners,  with 
their  watering-pots,  undertake  to  supply  the  summer 
rain.  The  great  work  of  Christian  evangelization 
must  be  done  by  the  great  mass  of  God's  people. 
To  bring  into  the  Sunday-school  five  millions  of 
neglected  children  can  be  done  only  by  the  general 
co-operation  of  the  six  millions  of  professing  Christ- 
ians. It  is  a  work  for  all.  It  is  a  work  for  every 
one.  Deducting  one-sixth  for  those  physically  dis- 
abled by  ill  health  and  the  infirmities  of  age,  there 


24       OBJECTS    OF   THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

would  still  be  left  one  professing  Christian  for  every 
neglected  child.  What  Christian  loves  his  Lord  so 
little,  or  is  so  poor  in  resources,  that  he  cannot,  by 
inquiry  and  persuasion  and  personal  effort,  in  the 
course  of  a  year,  or  of  two  years,  or  three  years, 
bring  one  child  into  the  Sunday-school?  What 
church  that  will  undertake  this  matter  seriously  and 
systematically  cannot,  in  one,  two,  or  three  years, 
bring  into  the  Sunday-school  as  many  neglected 
children  as  it  has  church  members?  What  Chris- 
tian, what  church,  has  not  within  reach  neglected 
children  on  whom  to  operate  ?  We  need  not  go  to 
Bedford  street,  or  to  the  Five  Points,  or  to  the  far 
West,  to  find  children  that  go  to  no  Sunday-school. 
They  are  all  around  us,  within  stone's  throw  of  our 
dwellings,  living  in  the  next  street,  perhaps  in  the 
next  house.  We  meet  them  every  time  we  go  to  our 
places  of  business.  We  see  them  on  every  street 
corner.     We  can  hardly  avoid  them  if  we  would. 

Here,  then,  is  the  aggressive  work  in  which  we 
are  engaged.  The  six  millions  of  American  Chris- 
tians must,  not  by  gifts  of  money,  not  by  sending 
substitutes,  but  by  personal  service,  bring  into  the 
Sunday-school  and  under  religious  influence  the 
five  millions  of  neglected  children  among  us  who  are 
growing  up  in  practical  heathenism. 

Christianity  Aggressive, 

Christianity  is  essentially  aggressive.  The  man 
who   is  a   true  Christian  himself  desires  to  see  all 


OBJECTS    OF   THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL.       25 

otlicr  men  Christians.  To  this  he  looks,  for  this  he 
labors  and  prays,  "Thy  kingdom  come"  is  the 
burden  of  his  prayer.  To  speed  its  coming  is  the 
object  of  his  labor  and  effort.  It  is  not  in  the  nature 
of  the  case  that  he  should  be' indifferent  to  this 
object.  Neutrality  in  the  case  is  not  possible.  Our 
Saviour  himself  expressly  says,  "  He  that  is  not  with 
me  is  against  me."  Christianity  is  not  like  a  scheme 
of  philosophy,  or  a  dogma  of  science,  which  a  man 
may  receive  as  his  own  belief,  with  unconcern  as  to 
what  others  believe  about  it.  If  a  man  believes 
Christianity  to  be  true,  he  must  needs  be  anxious 
that  others  should  have  the  same  faith.  He  is,  by 
his  very  nature  as  well  as  by  his  profession,  a  prop- 
agandist. The  church  is  an  organization  for  this 
very  purpose,  to  spread  the  doctrine  it  has  received* 
The  church  has  been  planted  in  the  world,  not  for 
the  purposes  of  self-defence,  but  for  aggression.  It 
aims  at  no  less  than  to  bring  all  men  within  its  pale. 
Duty  to  Those  Without.  If  such  be  the  nature 
of  Christianity,  and  such  the  ofhce  of  a  Christian 
church,  what  should  we  expect  in  any  community 
in  which  a  number  of  churches  are  planted  ?  Should 
these  churches' be  contented  with  merely  holding 
their  own? — with  merely  taking  care  each  of  its  own 
flock?  Surely  not.  Every  church  should  consider 
itself  bound  to  make  aggressions,  not  into  its  neigh 
bor's  fold,  but  into  the  territory  not  yet  reclaimed 
from  the  enemy.  There  are  few  communities  in 
which  at  least  one-third  of  the  population  is  not  out- 
3 


26       OBJECTS   OF   THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

side  of  any  church.  In  the  United  States,  the  pro- 
portion of  those  who  attend  no  church,  and  who  are 
openly  of  the  number  of  the  ungodly,  is  reckoned  at 
one-half  the  population.  This  may  possibly  be  an 
exaggeration.  There  may  be  particular  communi- 
ties in  which  the  number  of  those  who  are  outside 
of  religious  influences  and  connections  is  far  less. 
Yet  I  have  never  known  a  community  stirred  up  to 
make  a  thorough  exploration  of  this  subject  who 
did  not  find  the  facts  far  more  deplorable  and  alarm- 
ing than  they  had  imagined.  The  number  of  those 
who  in  this  Christian  land  live  and  die  as  heathens, 
if  not  one-half  of  the  entire  population,  is  appallingly 
large.  The  Christian  church  has  a  work  to  do  in 
regard  to  this  element  of  society,  which  it  must  look 
steadily  in  the  face,  neither  disheartened  by  the 
magnitude  of  the  evil,  nor  on  the  other  hand  ignor- 
ing its  existence. 

It  is  a  dreadful  mistake  for  a  church  to  content 
itself  with  merely  looking  after  the  families  con- 
nected with  its  own  organization.  This  undoubtedly 
it  should  do.  But  there  are  other  things  which  it 
should  not  leave  undone.  No  church  is  true  to  its 
Master  that  is  not  continually  and  systematically 
making  inroads  upon  the  kingdom  of  Satan. 

Evangelization  by  means  of  the  Sunday-school. 
It  has  so  come  to  pass  in  the  providence  of  God,  that 
much  of  the  work  of  evangelizing  the  mass  of  the 
people,  both  within  and  without  the  pale  of  the 
church,  is  now  accomplished  by  means  of  the  Sun- 


OBJECTS   OF  THE   SUNDAT-SCHOOL.     27 

day-school.  Whatever,  therefore,  this  institution 
may  have  been  in  its  origin,  it  is  now  clearly  a 
church  institution — a  part  of  the  church,  not  a  sanc- 
tuary outside  of  the  church.  It  is  one  of  the  modes 
by  which  the  church  is  doing  the  work  assigned  to 
her  by  her  Lord.  The  Methodist  Church  moved  in 
the  right  direction  in  the  changes  adopted  a  few 
years  since  in  their  Book  of  Discipline,  in  which  the 
Sunday-school  was  formally  incorporated  as  a  part 
of  the  working  machinery  of  the  church,  and  as  such 
subject  to  ecclesiastical  supervision  and  control.  I 
have  long  thought  the  institution  one  too  important 
to  be  left  to  mere  voluntary  guidance  and  support.  I 
hope  the  day  is  not  distant  when  every  ecclesiastical 
body  will  not  only  assume  the  charge  of  its  Sunday- 
schools,  but  will  give  them  that  efficient  and  system- 
atic support  accorded  to  other  acknowledged  agen- 
cies of  the  church. 

Duty  of  Churches  as  such.  But  there  is  a  step 
beyond  this  even  which  our  churches  must  take. 
They  should  not  only  look  after  the  children  of  their 
own  flocks,  seeing  that  they  are  brought  into  the 
school,  and  that  they  are  duly  cared  for  and  in- 
structed, but  they  should  systematically  and  with  or- 
ganized efibrt  go  out  into  the  byways  and  bring  in  the 
neglected  ones.  Every  conference,  synod,  convention, 
presbytery,  classis,  or  church  judicatory,  having 
£ontrol  in  matters-of  discipline,  should  enjoin  upon 
Its  members  the  duty  of  gathering  into  its  Sunday- 
schools  the  children  who  have  no  church  connection. 


28     OBJECTS    OF   THE   SUNDAT-SCHOOL. 

Much  has  been  done  in  this  way  by  voluntary  associ- 
ations of  teachers,  who  have  organized  themselves 
into  visiting  committees  for  the  purpose  of  visiting 
every  family.  But  such  associations  are  transient, 
and  more  or  less  spasmodic.  Churches  are  perma- 
nent. They  are  the  proper  agency  for  aggressive 
work,  as  well  as  for  the  work  within  their  own  con- 
gregation. When  every  church  shall  have  fully 
organized  and  equipped  itself  for  this  work,  and 
shall  have  entered  upon  it  with  earnest  zeal,  and 
shall  have  reaped  an  abundant  harvest  as  the  fruit  of 
its  labors,  there  will  still  remain  "  much  land  to  be 
possessed."  There  is  enough  for  all  to  do.  Let  all 
engage  in  doing. 

If  a  church  may  be  interrogated  by  its  supervisory 
body  as  to  its  faithfulness  in  regard  to  the  children 
of  its  members  and  of  the  families  worshipping  with 
it,  why  should  it  not  be  interrogated  also  as  to  its 
faithfulness  to  those  "  which  are  without  ?"  If  a 
church  may  assign  to  some  of  its  members  the  duty 
of  superintending  and  teaching  in  the  Sunday-school, 
and  of  seeing  that  the  children  of  its  households  are 
properly  instructed  either  in  the  Sunday-school  or 
elsewhere,  why  may  it  not  also  organize  a  stated  and 
responsible  machinery  for  bringing  into  the  school 
and  the  congregation  children  and  families  that  have 
no  religious  connection  ? 

"  Not  to  Leave  the  Other  Uhdone.'"  The  cur- 
rent of  thought  among  Sunda3^-school  ter.chers  all 
over  the  land  at  this  time  is  strongly  set  upon  im- 


OBJECTS    OF  THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL.     29 

proving  the  methods  of  teaching.  On  this  branch 
of  the  subject  I  shall  have  much  to  say  in  the 
present  volume.  The  greater  part  of  my  volume, 
indeed,  will  be  devoted  to  this  point.  But  there  is 
another  aspect  of  the  case  that  is  equally  important, 
and. that  is  for  the  time  in  some  danger  of  being 
forgotten. 

A  Missionary  Agency,  The  Sunday-school  is 
of  incalculable  importance  as  a  missionary  agency  of 
the  church.  As  a  means  of  reaching  the  destitute, 
those  lying  outside  the  pale  of  the  churches,  there  is 
no  agency  comparable  to  it  for  efficiency,  none  that 
can  supply  its  place.  The  improvements  in  teaching 
and  training,  and  in  the  general  management  of 
schools,  upon  which  the  minds  of  Sunday-school 
men  are  now  set,  will  contribute  doubtless  to  the 
effectiveness  of  the  institution  as  a  missionary  agency  ; 
for  the  better  and  more  attractive  we  can  make  our 
existing  schools  the  more  readily  can  we  propagate 
and  multiply  them.  But  the  mission  work  of  the 
Sunday-school  is,  after  all,  something  distinct,  having 
motives,  methods  and  agencies  of  its  own,  and  is  of 
primary  and  most  urgent  importance.  The  danger 
of  the  hour  seems  to  me  to  be  that  this  great  work 
will  unintentionally  and  unconsciously  be  made  sec- 
ondary in  the  thoughts  and  efforts  of  God's  people  ; 
and  I  take  the  occasion,  therefore,  in  the  very  thresh- 
old of  my  book,  to  emphasize  this  feature  of  the 
Sunday-school  enterprise. 

More  thaii  half  the  Children  out  of  Siinday- 
3* 


30     OBJECTS    OF   THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

school.  The  broad,  patent,  acknowledged  fact  which 
the  church  is  called  on  to  consider  is  that  there,  in 
our  own  land,  more  children  are  outside  the  Sunday- 
school  than  inside,  and  with  all  our  efforts  thus  far 
we  have  not  perceptibly  reduced  the  proportion  of 
those  who  are  growing  up  godless  and  unchristian. 
Must  these  things  be? 

The  duty  of  every  Christian  church  and  of  every 
Christian  in  this  matter  is  easily  divisible  into  two 
heads.  First,  we  owe  something  to  the  neglected 
children  in  our  immediate  neighborhood — those  with- 
in reach  of  our  own  homes  and  churches,  in  the  lanes 
and  streets  and  alleys  all  around  us.  Secondly,  we 
owe  a  duty  to  those  living  in  sparsely-settled  regions 
in  the  interior  of  the  old  States  and  in  the  ever  ad- 
vancing borders  of  the  new  States,  where  churches 
and  Christian  institutions  are  not  yet  fully  enjoyed. 

Supforti77g  Missionaries.  The  duties  of  this 
second  class  cannot  be  discharged  in  most  cases  by 
personal  service.  We  cannot  go,  but  we  may  send. 
We  must  give  of  our  worldly  substance  to  those  who 
are  willing  to  act  as  missionaries  in  this  work  of 
planting  Sunday-schools  in  pioneer  regions.  We 
should  give  a  cordial  and  liberal  support  to  those 
societies  and  agencies  which  have  this  work  in  hand. 
There  is  one  society  especially,  national  in  its  charac- 
ter and  name,  catholic  in  its  principles,  and  vener- 
able in  its  history  and  associations,  which  should 
share  largely  in  the  sympathies  and  the  liberality  of 
all  Protestant  Christians.     I  refer  to   the  American 


OBJECTS   OF   THE   SUNDAT-SCHOOL.     31 

Sunday-School  Union.  As  a  Society,  it  has  facili- 
ties for  missionary  work  in  pioneer  regions  such  as 
no  other  benevolent  agency  has  with  which  I  am 
acquainted.  It  has,  too,  a  noble  record  in  the  past, 
and  I  hope  a  glorious  work  in  the  future.  I  bid  it 
most  sincerely  God-speed.  I  commend  its  mission- 
aries and  its  work  to  the  confidence,  the  prayers,  the 
sympathies  and  the  liberality  of  God's  people.  The 
Society  should  have  ten  missionaries  in  the  field 
where  it  now  has  one.  It  should  receive  hundreds 
of  dollars  where  it  now  receives  ten.  As  a  mission- 
ary agency  its  necessity  was  never  so  great,  its 
opportunities  were  never  so  ample,  its  wants  never 
more  urgent.  As  a  missionary  agency  it  is  compar- 
atively inexpensive.  The  entire  support  of  one  of 
its  missionaries  is  within  the  means  of  many  a  single 
school.  There  are  at  least  five  hundred  Sunday- 
schools  in  our  great  centres  of  population,  each  of 
which  might  have  its  missionary,  and  every  such 
missionary  might  gather  in  one  new  school  on  an 
average  every  week  in  the  year.  Could  there  be  a 
more  blessed  privilege,  a  more  imperative  duty? 

Mission  Work  Everywhere.  But  there  is  a  vast 
amount  of  missionary  work  to  be  done  that  requires 
no  intervention  of  any  society,  national,  vState  or 
county.  Every  school,  every  church,  every  man, 
woman,  or  child,  that  loves  the  Lord  Jesus,  has  mis- 
sionary ground  always  within  reach.  Wherever 
there  is  a  child  whose  religious  interests  are  not 
cared  for,  who  is  growing  up  without  a  knowledge 


32     OBJECTS   OF  THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

of  God  and  the  way  of  salvation,  there  is  missionary 
work  to  be  done.  The  strong,  well-ordered,,  pros- 
perous schools  should  count  it  a  part  of  their  indis- 
pensable duty,  not  only  to  aid  in  sending  mission- 
aries to  remote  settlements,  but  to  engage  personally 
in  mission  work  in  their  own  immediate  neighbor- 
hoods. 

A  school  connected  with  one  of  our  large  city 
congregations  ought  to  place  these  three  objects 
before  it :  First,  to  bring  into  itself,  among  its  own 
classes,  a  continual  stream  of  that  class  of  children 
known  as  mission  scholars,  consisting  of  such  as  live 
near  enough  to  attend  the  mother  church.  Secondly, 
to  maintain  one  or  more  outlying  mission-schools  for 
such  children  as  live  too  far  from  the  church  to 
attend  there.  Mission  stations  like  this  exist  to 
almost  any  extent  in  our  towns  and  cities.  Thirdly, 
to  maintain  a  missionary  of  its  own  on  some  distant 
field,  using  for  this  purpose  the  agency  of  some 
society. 

A  large  school  of  this  kind  is  not  thoroughly  organ- 
ized for  its  work  unless  it  has,  in  addition  to  its 
teachers,  librarians,  etc.,  a  goodly  number  of  labor- 
ers whose  business  should  be  to  go  out  regularly 
every  Sunday  looking  after  children.  When  the 
teachers  go  to  the  school,  let  these  visitors  go  into 
the  streets.  Let  the  work  be  a  stated  one,  just  as 
much  as  that  of  teaching,  jjnd  let  it  occupy  as  much 
time.  A  school  that  has  twenty  teachers  ought  to 
have  at  least  five  of  these  child-hunters.     Such  an 


OBJECTS    OF   THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL.     33 

arrangement  would  enable  the  superintendent  and 
pastor  to  utilize  a  large  amount  of  talent  that  is  now 
resting  unemployed.  M^ny  pious  persons  might 
profitably  engage  in  this  service,  and  would  be  glad 
to  do  so,  who  have  not  the  qualifications  for  teaching. 
What  an  impulse  it  would  give  to  all  our  schools  if 
tor  every  four  or  five  teachers  one  voluntary  mission- 
ary visitor  of  this  sort  were  engaged  every  Sunday, 
all  the  time  of  the  session  of  the  school,  in  exploring 
the  streets  and  alleys  for  neglected  children  ! 

C 


CHAPTER    II 


SUNDA  I'-SCHOOL    ORGANIZA TION. 


N  the  remarks  which  I  am  about  to  make  I 
refer,  not  to  the  institution  as  a  general  or 
national  concern,  but  to  a  particular  school. 
How  shall  a  Sunday-school  be  organized?  What 
ideas  enter  into  such  an  organization  ?  What  officers 
are  needed  for  its  full  efficiency  ? 

In  sketching  such  an  organization,  I  have  in 
mind  the  school  of  a  large,  well-appointed  city 
church,  a  school  numbering  from  two  to  three  hun- 
dred scholars.  Many  modifications  would  be  needed, 
of  course,  in  organizing  a  city  mission-school,  or  a 
small  country  school. 

I  would  enter,  also,  one  other  important  caveat. 
However  decided  may  be  my  opinion  in  regard  to 
the  best  method  of  Sunday-school  management,  or 
the  true  theory  on  which  Sunday-school  organiza- 
tions should  be  based,  yet  if  in  any  particular  case  I 
found  an  old,  well-established  school  in  successful 
operation  conducted  on  some  other  plan,  I  should 
think  it  eminently  unwise  to  disturb  such  organiza- 
tion just  for  the  sake  of  realizing  a  theory.  But 
34 


SUNDAT-SCHOOL    ORGANIZATION.       35 

every  year  scores  of  new  schools  are  coming  into 
life,  and  there  are  also  hundreds  of  old  schools  in  a 
disordered,  enfeebled  condition,  requiring  reorgani- 
zation. In  ail  these  cases  the  way  is  open  for  exper- 
iment, and  one  may  enter  the  work  with  a  reasonably 
fair  chance  of  carrying  out  a  preconceived  plan  with- 
out material  or  vexatious  obstructions. 

Basis  of  Organization. 

The  first  question  to  be  settled  is.  What  is  the  true 
basis  of  the  Sunday-school?  Is  it  an  independent, 
self-originating  institution,  like  a  Temperance  Society, 
or  a  Society  for  Preventing  Cruelty  to  Animals,  or  is 
it  an  offspring  of  the  church  ? — a  part  of  the  machin- 
ery and  working  of  the  church?  The  answer  given 
to  this  question  will  determine  many  others — most 
others,  indeed,  relating  to  the  management  of  the 
school,  and  therefore  it  should  take  precedence  of 
other  questions.  There  is  a  tendency  in  many  quar- 
ters to  feel  and  act,  if  not  distinctly  to  say,  that  the 
Sunday-school  is  something  distinct  and  apart — an 
institution  by  itself.  This  notion,  I  am  happy  to 
believe,  is  not  as  prevalent  as  it  was  ten  years  ago. 
It  still  exists,  however,  and  wherever  it  does  exist  it 
exerts  a  controlling  influence  in  shaping  affairs. 

For  myself,  I  have  no  sort  of  sympathy  with  any 
such  feeling  or  notion.  The  Sunday-school,  accord- 
ing to  my  theory,  is  a  part  of  the  working  of  the 
church,  as  much  so  as  the  prayer-meeting,  or  the 
weekly  lecture,  or  even  the  Sunday  sermon  is.     It  is 


36        SUNDAY-SCHOOL    ORGANIZATION. 

one  of  the  ways  in  which  the  church  shows  its  life. 
The  religious  training  of  the  young  is  an  imperative 
duty  of  the  church,  which  it  can  neither  ignore  nor 
delegate.  The  instruction  of  youth  in  the  principles 
of  the  gospel  is  one  of  the  leading  means  by  which 
God's  people  are  to  fulfill  their  great  mission  of 
Christianizing  the  world.  It  is  therefore  the  duty 
and  the  interest  of  every  Christian  church,  first  to 
diffuse  and  foster  among  its  households  a  disposition 
to  train  their  children  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, and  secondly  to  supplement  this  family  train- 
ing by  organizing  and  supporting  a  school  wherein 
the  Scriptures  and  the  symbols  of  the  church  may 
be  studied  in  some  systematic  and  orderly  manner. 
The  school,  according  to  this  idea,  is  not  something 
outside,  springing  up  of  itself,  and  coming  in  as  a 
co-ordinate  and  collateral  influence.  It  is  rather,  or 
at  least  it  should  be,  the  direct  offspring  and  child  of 
the  church. 

Holding  this  view  of  the  subject,  I  am  at  no  loss 
to  determine  what  shall  be  the  fountain  of  authority 
in  the  school.  If  a  school  is  in  a  healthy  condition, 
its  teachers  filled  with  zeal  for  the  regeneration  and 
conversion  of  their  scholars,  questions  of  authority 
and  power  and  precedence  will  rarely  arise.  Still, 
in  every  organization  where  human  beings  work 
together,  there  must  be  a  recognize<^  centre  and  a 
recognized  source  of  authority  and  control.  The 
7  superintendent  is  the  centre  of  control  and  authority 
in  the  Sunday-school.     That  is  agreed  on  all  ha^ds. 


SUNDAT-SCHOOL    ORGANIZATION.        37 

But  who  clothes  him  with  this  authority?  Whence 
does  it  spring  as  its  source?  Who  appoint  him  and 
remove  him? 

Appointmoit  of  Superintendent, 

"  Why,  the  superintendent  is  elected  by  the  teach- 
ers," says  the  reader ;  ''  how  else  should  he  be 
elected  ?" 

That  is  just  where  we  differ.  The  school,  accord- 
ing to  my  notion,  is  not  a  little  republic,  or  a  ward 
meeting,  or  an  arena  for  exercising  the  suffrage,  but 
a  place  for  work  under  the  direction  of  the  consti- 
tuted authorities  of  the  church.  The  church  has  a 
work  to  do,  and  they  appoint  a  man  to  manage  it 
for  them,  just  as  a  railroad  corporation  appoint  an 
engineer  or  a  conductor.  The  teachers  of  a  public 
school  do  not  elect  their  principal ;  why  should  the 
teachers  of  a  Sunday-school  do  so? 

The  opinions  of  nearly  all  Sunday-school  teachers, 
and  the  customs  of  nearly  all  Sunday-schools,  I 
know,  are  against  me  in  this  matter  ;  and  yet  I  am 
persuaded  the  common  mode  of  proceeding  has 
grown  up  by  chance  and  through  indifference,  rather 
than  from  any  well-considered  theory  on  the  subject, 
and  I  have  good  reason  to  believe  that  the  method 
which  I  advocate  is  steadily  and  surely  gaining 
ground.  It  needs  but  a  sober  and  unprejudiced  con- 
sideration to  become  general. 

There  are  two  wjiys  of  killing  all  life  out  of  a 
school.     One   is   to   load   it   down  with  a   complex 

4 


38        SUNDAY-SCHOOL    ORGANIZATION. 

machinery  of  laws  and  by-laws — to  "  constitution"  it 
to  death.  The  other  is  to  make  its  offices  a  bone  of 
electioneering  contention.  When  this  sort  of  feeling 
creeps  into  a  school,  it  might  as  well  close  its  doors  ; 
and  how  can  this  feeling  be  excluded  when  the  posi- 
tion of  superintendent  is  held  up  as  a  prize  to  be 
scrambled  for,  and  the  aspirant  feels  that  he  must 
cater  for  votes  ? 

The  simplest,  the  safest,  the  most  effective  way  of 
organizing  a  school  is  for  the  session,  or  the  vestry, 
or  whatever  body  constitutes  the  government  of  the 
church,  to  select  their  man  and  say  to  him  :  Here 
is  a  work  which  we  want  you  to  manage  for  us  and 
for  the  Master.  Look  through  the  congregation  and 
select  your  instruments.  Invite  one  to  teach,  another 
to  be  secretary,  another  to  be  librarian,  and  so  on. 
We  wish  the  school  conducted  on  certain  principles, 
but  we  leave  the  details  of  administration  and  the 
selection  of  the  instruments  to  yourself.  When  you 
have  your  corps  of  teachers  and  assistants  selected, 
you  will,  of  course,  as  every  wise  administrator  does, 
confer  with  them  freely  and  kindly,  and  be  thankful 
for  advice  and  suggestion  ;  but  remember  that  you 
are  the  overseer  of  the  flock,  and  to  you  we  look  for 
results. 

In  other  words,  the  superintendent  represents  the 
session,  or  whatever  body,  according  to  the  usage 
of  the  particular  church,  constitutes  its  governing 
nuthority.  The  superintendent  is  appointed  by  the 
church,  to  do  a  work  for  the  church,  under  instruc- 


SUNDAY-SCHOOL    ORGANIZATION.        39 

tions  from  the  cluiich.  Instead  of  being  elected  by 
the  teachers,  he  invites  the  teaciiers  to  be  his  helpers 
in  the  work  assigned  him. 

As  I  said  before,  where  a  school  is  already  well 
established  and  in  successful  operation,  and  has 
been  organized  on  the  other  jDlan,  I  would  not  break 
up  the  existing  arrangements  for  the  mere  sake  of 
tlieory.  But  where  a  new  school  is  to  be  estab- 
lished, or  an  old  one  is  to  be  revived  or  reconstructed, 
I  would  ask  those  interested  to  consider  seriously 
and  candidly  the  position  which  I  have  taken. 

The  character,  almost  the  life,  of  the  school  de- 
pends on  the  superintendent.  This  is  admitted  on 
all  hands.  Are  there  not  grave  reasons  why  he 
should  not  be  subject  to  an  annual  election  by  the 
teachers?  or  to  an  election  by  them  at  all?  Suppose 
the  superintendent,  through  some  infirmity  of  temper, 
or  want  of  tact,  or  lack  of  executive  ability,  is  not 
succeeding,  is  it  not  likely  that  a  change  of  adminis- 
tration can  be  effected  WMth  more  discretion  and  with 
less  friction,  with  greater  quietness  and  at  tlie  same 
time  with  greater  firmness,  in  the  manner  which  I 
have  indicated,  than  by  the  exasperating  publicity  of 
a  popular  vote?  Many  a  school  drags  out  a  feeble 
and  sickly  existence  for  years  just  because  the  teach- 
ers wish  to  avoid  a  scene.  They  feel  naturall}'  timid 
about  turning  out  an  incompetent  superintendent. 
Surely  such  things  can  be  managed  better  by  a  few 
wise  heads,  having  competent  authority,  than  by 
electioneering  intrigues. 


40        SUNDAT-SCIIOOL    ORGANIZATION. 

This,  then,  is  the  first  point  in  the  organization 
of  a  Sunday-school  ;  namely,  the  appointment  of  the 
superintendent.  But  suppose  a  superintendent  ap- 
pointed, what  ofiicers  or  assistants  does  he  need  in 
carrying  on  the  work? 

Oihe.     Officers. 

I.  A  Seci-etary.  Many  superintendents  perform 
the  duty  of  secretary  themselves.  If  the  school  is  very 
small,  and  no  suitable  person  can  be  obtained  for  the 
purpose,  the  superintendent  may  have  to  do  this 
work.  But  I  am  not  now  speaking  of  such  schools, 
or  of  such  extreme  cases.  In  the  great  majority  of 
cases,  where  there  is  no  secretary  to  keep  the  records 
of  the  school,  it  is  because  the  superintendent  is  an 
immethodical  man,  with  loose  habits  of  business, 
and  does  not  see  the  importance  of  a  systematic  and 
careful  record  of  what  is  done  in  the  school.  Clear 
and  correct  minutes  of  attendance  and  of  proceedings 
add  greatly  to  the  efficiency  of  the  school,  and  are  as 
important  to  it  as  to  other  kinds  of  business.  Such 
minutes,  if  full  and  accurate,  help  not  only  to  meas- 
ure progress,  but  to  guide  in  deciding  practical 
questions.  But  to  be  of  any  use  they  ought  to  be 
made  with  care  and  neatness,  and  from  actual  ob- 
servation on  the  spot.  If  the  school  is  a  large  one, 
collecting  the  facts  which  ought  to  be  registered  and 
reducing  them  to  record  is  work  enough  to  occupy 
the  time  of  one  person  during  the  whole  session  of 
the  school.     The  superintendent's  time  in  school  is 


SUNDAY-SCHOOL    ORGANIZATION.        41 

too  valuable,  and  is  too  much  needed  for  other  pur- 
poses, to  be  occupied  with  these  details.  In  almost 
every  congregation  there  is  some  young  man  of 
quiet,  gentlemanly  habits,  accustomed  to  business, 
perhaps  a  clerk  or  accountant  in  a  mercantile  firm, 
who,  though  not  a  member  of  church,  and  not  will- 
ing or  perhaps  not  suited  to  act  as  a  teacher,  yet 
feels  an  interest  in  the  school,  and  would  take  a 
pleasure  in  thus  making  his  good  penmanship  and 
his  business  habits  contribute  to  the  promotion  of  the 
cause.  One  of  the  special  benefits  of  the  Sunday- 
school  work  is  that  it  gives  employment  to  much 
precious  talent  that  would  otherwise  go  to  waste. 
Every  young  man  that  can  be  utilized  by  occupa- 
tions like  these  is  so  much  positive  gain.  The 
superintendent,  in  selecting  his  secretary,  ought  to 
have  an  eye  to  this,  so  as  not  only  to  secure  a  valu- 
able assistant,  but  to  bring  into  the  field  of  usefulness 
one  who  would  otherwise  be  standing  idle. 

2.  A  Librarian,  The  qualities  needed  in  the 
librarian  are  very  similar  to  those  required  in  the 
secretary.  One  is  needed  who  is  a  good  penman 
and  a  good  accountant,  trained  to  method  and  to 
habits  of  business ;  one  who  is  quiet,  patient,  con- 
siderate and  careful  ;  one  who  is  not  a  mere  routinist, 
but  who  has  some  fertility  of  invention,  so  as  to  find 
out  ways  of  collecting  and  distributing  books  with- 
out distracting  the  teachers  in  the  work  of  teaching, 
and  so  as  to  secure  the  books  from  being  destroyed 
and  lost.  The  librarian,  in  a  school  of  any  size, 
4  * 


42        SUNDAT-SCHOOL    ORGANIZATION. 

needs  at  least  two  assistants,  one  for  the  boys'  classes 
and  one  for  the  girls'  classes.  A  third  assistant  is 
needed  for  the  infant  class.  In  very  large  schools  as 
many  as  four  or  five  assistants  are  needed.  There  is 
rarely  any  error  in  employing  too  much  assistance 
in  the  work  of  the  library.  The  common  error  is  in 
the  other  direction.  The  library  gives  an  oppor- 
tunity of  retaining  in  the  school  many  of  the  young 
men  of  the  church,  and  turning  to  good  account 
their  talents  for  business. 

3.  A  Chorlstei'.  This  office  is  not  an  indispens- 
able one,  like  the  two  others  which  have  been 
named.  But  wherever  it  is  practicable,  it  adds  much 
to  the  effectiveness  of  the  music  in  the  school  to  have 
some  competent  person  whose  recognized  business 
it  is  to  lead  the  children  in  the  singing.  Often  the 
church  chorister  performs  this  office  for  the  school. 
More  commonly  it  is  one  of  the  teachers.  The 
office  is  not  incompatible  with  that  of  teacher,  as  the 
office  of  librarian  or  of  secretary  is.  It  is  important, 
however,  that  the  singing  should  not  be  left  at  loose 
ends,  as  it  often  is,  but  that  some  one  of  good  judg- 
ment and  competent  musical  talent  should  be  charged 
with  the  duty  of  attending  to  tlie  music.  It  needs 
some  one,  not  merely  to  raise  the  tune  wdien  the 
time  for  singing  comes,  but  to  study  the  matter  and 
devise  the  ways  and  means  of  improving  the  music. 
Sunday-school  music  has  become  a  great  power. 
But  in  order  to  the  full  development  and  the  wise 
exercise  of  this  power,  there  is  needed  a  competent 


SUNDAT-SCHOOL    ORGANIZATION.        43 

knowledge  of  the  subject,  invention,  tact,  sound 
judgment,  and  no  small  amount  of  labor  and  thought 
outside  of  the  school.  The  superintendent  who  is 
able  to  summon  to  his  aid  an  assistant  of  this  kind 
adds  thereby  largely  to  the  effectiveness  of  all  his 
other  operations.  Good  music  in  the  Sunday-school 
operates  like  the  breath  of  the  south  wind  in  spring- 
time upon  a  bank  of  flowers — sending  a  pleasant 
warmth  and  glow  to  all  the  genial  forces  of  nature. 

4.  Teachers.  I  shall  have  occasion,  farther  on 
in  this  volume,  to  go  into  a  good  deal  of  detail  in 
regard  to  the  duties  and  qualifications  of  teachers. 
The  only  point  now  to  be  considered  is  the  relation 
of  the  teachers  to  the  superintendent. 

The  general  idea  which,  according  to  my  view, 
lies  at  the  basis  of  the  whole  »Sunday-school  organ- 
ization, must  be  our  guide  here.  The  pastor,  the 
rector,  the  session,  the  vestry — whatever  man  or 
men  constitute  the  ordinary  authority  of  the  church 
— appoint  the  superintendent,  or  invite  him  to  carry 
out  their  views  in  organizing  and  conducting  a  Sun- 
day-school. The  superintendent  in  like  manner 
invites  such  persons  in  the  congregation  as  he  deems 
fit  to  be  his  helpers  in  this  work.  The  teachers  are 
assistants  to  the  superintendent,  acting  in  co-opera- 
lion  with  him,  under  his  advice  and  direction,  b}-- 
his  invitation. 

In  other  words,  so  far  as  there  is  an  election,  the 
superintendent  elects  the  teachers,  not  teachers  the 
superintendent.     I  do  not  like   this  word   election, 


44        SUNDAT-SCHOOL    ORGANIZATION. 

anyhow,  as  applied  to  such  matters.  I  would  as 
soon  speak  of  the  minister's  electing  some  one  to 
pray  at  the  Friday  night  prayer-meeting.  As  the 
minister  conducts  the  prayer-meeting,  so  the  super- 
intendent conducts  the  school,  calling  to  his  assist- 
ance, and  at  his  discretion,  such  members  of  the 
congregation  as  he  needs  and  as  are  willing  to  co- 
operate with  him  in  the  work. 

Such,  I  believe,  is  the  ordinary  and  actual  mode 
of  doing  things,  whatever  theory  to  the  contrary 
people  may  have.  I  never  yet  knew  a  school  that 
was  thorougchlv  alive  and  efficient  that  was  not  con- 
ducted  virtually  on  this  plan,  and  I  have  known 
scores  of  good  schools  killed  by  attempting  to  carry 
the  other  plan  into  practice.  If,  whenever  a  teacher 
leaves  the  school,  or  a  new  class  is  organized,  or  a 
teacher  becomes  remiss  or  shows  signs  of  hopeless 
incompetency,  a  teachers'  meeting  is  to  be  called, 
and  the  matter  of  personal  merits  and  demerits  is  to 
be  discussed  and  a  vote  to  be  taken,  how  can  it  be 
possible  to  avoid  heart-burnirTgs,  wranglings  and 
alienations?  The  selection  and  the  displacement  of 
teachers  in  a  work  so  purely  voluntary  as  that  of 
the  Sunday-school  are  matters  requiring  the  utmost 
delicacy  and  tact,  and  any  attempt  to  manage  them 
by  means  of  public  discussion  and  popular  vote 
must  end  in  disaster.  Patriarchal  government,  not 
emocracy,  is  tHe  want  of  the  Sunday-school. 
It  will  be  objected,  perhaps,  that  I  make  the 
superintendent  an   autocrat,  and  that  the  plan  takes 


\:; 


SUNDA  2'- SCHOOL    ORGANIZATION.        45 

away  all  self-respect  and  freedom  of  action  from  the 
teacher.  But  let  it  be  remembered  tliat  the  superin- 
tendent holds  a  similar  relation  to  a  power  above 
him,  from  which  he  receives  his  own  appointment 
and  authority,  and  to  which,  in  turn,  he  is  amenable, 
and  tliat  in  case  of  delinquency  or  incompetency  of 
any  kind  he  too  may  be  dealt  wit4i,  just  as  the  in- 
competent or  delinquent  teacher  is  dealt  with  by 
him.  Let  it  be  remembered,  too,  by  those  who  fear 
that  our  theory  will  lead  to  superciliousness,  arro- 
gance, or  abuse  of  any  kind,  on  the  part  of  the  super- 
intendent, that  the  service  is  a  purely  voluntary  one 
on  the  part  of  the  teacher,  and  thus  the  teachers 
have  it  most  effectually  in  their  power  to  check  any 
arbitrary  or  undue  exercise  of  authority  on  the  part 
of  the  superintendent. 

My  readers  will  excuse  me  for  having  dwelt  a  lit- 
tle on  this  matter.  I  feel  persuaded  that  the  efficiency 
of  our  Sunday-school  operations  has  been  much  im- 
pared  by  the  vague,  ill-defined  notions  prevalent  on 
this  subject.  Practically,  superintendents  and  teach- 
ers have  acted  on  the  plan  which  I  recommend, 
while  their  theory  of  action  has  been  all  the  other 
way,  and  this  difference  between  what,  according  to 
their  theory,  they  ought  to  do,  and  what,  by  the  sheer 
necessities  of  the  case,  they  are  compelled  to  do,  has 
produced  a  state  of  hesitation  and  uncertainty  entirely 
incompatible  with  the  highest  efficiency.  No  correct- 
ness of  theory,  indeed,  will  give  to  an  incompetent 
superintendent  common   sense,   tact,   discretion,   or 


46        SUNDAY-SCHOOL    ORGANIZATION. 

executive  ability.  But  supposing  him  to  have  these 
qualities,  it  certainly  does  add  greatly  to  the  ease  and 
efficiency  w^ith  which  he  can  work  the  complicated 
machinery,  to  have  his  relations  to  its  several  parts 
clearly  understood  and  recognized,  not  only  by  the 
church  authorities,  but  also  by  the  teachers. 

It  does  not  follow  from  the  view  which  I  have 
taken  of  the  superintendent's  relations  to  the  teachers 
that,  on  taking  charge  of  an  established  school, 
he  will  feel  called  upon  to  displace  the  existing 
teachers  merely  to  re-appoint  them  or  to  appoint 
others.  It  is  to  be  taken  for  granted  that  he  has 
some  few  grains  of  common  sense,  and  that  he  will 
be  only  too  glad  to  retain  in  the  service  the  faithful 
workers  that  he  finds  there.  But  when  on  full  trial 
it  is  plain  that  any  particular  teacher  is  out  of  place, 
and  the  good  of  the  school  requires  a  change,  or 
when  the  methods  of  any  teacher  are  capable  of 
being  improved  by  wise  and  kindly  suggestions,  or 
when  a  teacher  is  wanted  for  a  newly-formed  class, 
I  cannot  doubt  that  such  changes  and  choices  are 
purely  administrative,  and  come  within  the  functions 
of  the  superintendent  rather  than  those  of  the  teach- 
ers' meeting.  I  can  as  little  doubt  that  this  putting 
into  the  superintendent's  hands,  distinctly  and  avow- 
edly, the  duty  of  calling  teachers  to  his  aid  where 
needed,  and  of  displacing  or  changing  teachers  when 
necessary,  contributes  as  much  to  the  harmony  and 
good  feeling  of  all  concerned  as  it  does  to  unity  and 
efficiency  of  efibrt. 


SUNDA  r-SCHOOL    OR GANIZA  TION. 


47 


To  sum  up  in  a  few  words  my  whole  theory  of 
Sunday-school  organization  : 

The  church  selects  the  superintendent ;  the  super- 
intendent selects  his  secretary,  librarian,  chorister 
and  teachers. 

The  secretary,  librarian,  chorister  and  teachers  are 
responsible  to  the  superintendent ;  the  superintendent! 
is  responsible  to  the  church. 


^^^-■I'i^^ 


^B^ 


^M^.^t 


CHAPTER    III. 


THB  SUPERINTENDENT. 


HERE  is  not  much  exaggeration  in  the 
common  saying  that  the  superintendent  is 
the  school.  Scholars  and  teachers  of  course 
are  needed  in  making  a  school.  But  scholars  and 
teachers  are  of  little  avail  without  a  superintending 
head.  A  number  of  people,  young  and  old,  brought 
together  without  any  organic  centre  of  action,  do  not 
constitute  a  school.  They  are  only  a  mass-meeting 
on  a  small  scale.  Chemistry  gives  us  a  good  illus- 
tration of  this  idea.  Two  or  three  different  kinds  of 
materials  put  into  a  vessel  make  simply  a  confused 
mixture.  But  add  another  ingredient  of  exactly  the 
right  kind,  and  the  confused  mass  becomes  at  once 
organic.  It  is  forthwith  converted  into  a  crystal, 
every  little  molecule  finding  its  appropriate  place 
with  all  the  exactness  of  a  mathematical  formula. 
'The  superintendent  is  the  crystallizing  ingredient  in 
the  Sunda3'-school,  giving  form  and  order  to  what 
would  otherwise  be  chaos,  changing  into  a  school 
what  would  otherwise  be  a  mere  mass-meeting. 

If  the  superintendent  is  the  right  sort  of  a  man, 

•     48 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT.  49 

the  school  will  flourish  despite  all  adverse  influences. 
If  the  superintendent  is  incajDable  or  faithless,  the 
school  will  languish  and  dwindle  despite  the  best 
of  teachers  and  the  most  favorable  circumstances. 
The  case  can  hardly  be  expressed  too  strongly.  A 
good  superintendent  is  a  sine  qua  ?ion  of  a  good 
school. 

It  is  not  every  one  who  is  capable  of  being  a  good 
superintendent.  Yet  there  are  probably  in  every 
community  more  persons  than  is  generally  supposed 
who  have  the  capacity  if  it  were  only  properly 
developed,  and  many  of  those  who  are  now  exercis- 
ing the  office  in  a  feeble  and  unsatisfactory  manner 
might  attain  high  excellence  in  it,  if  only  they  would 
take  the  necessary  means.  It  is  worth  while,  there- 
fore, to  make  some  special  study  of  this  important 
matter.  Clear  ideas  in  regard  to  the  nature  of  the 
superintendent's  office  conduce  greatly  to  its  eflSciency 
and  to  the  success  of  the  school.  Some  persons 
who  have  really  all  the  substantial  qualities  needed 
in  a  superintendent  fail  through  a  mistaken  notion 
of  what  a  man  in  that  position  ought  to  do.  I  have 
one  instance  at  this  very  moment  in  my  mind,  of  a 
gentleman  who  presides  over  a  large  business  con- 
cern with  admirable  success,  managing  its  compli- 
cated affairs  with  system,  order,  and  tact,  and  who, 
if  he  would  only  bring  into  the  school  the  same 
methods  that  he  applies  to  his  business,  would  meet 
there  with  a  like  success  ;  but  unfortunately  he  has  in 
his  head  a  false  theory  of  what  a  Sunday-school 
5  D 


50  THE   SUPERINTENDENT. 

superintendent  should  be,  and  in  carrying  out  this 
theory  he  is  kilHng  his  school.  Let  us  soberly  con- 
sider, then,  what  are  some  of  the  qualities  needed 
in  a  good  superintendent,  and  what  are  some  of  the 
things  which  he  has  to  do. 

I.    The  Fii'st  ^ualificatiojz. 

Earnest  Piety.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say,  the 
superintendent  should  be  a  man  of  unmistakable  piety. 
In  many  respects  the  duties  and  qualifications  of 
the  superintendent  differ  from  those  of  the  teacher. 
But  in  one  particular  they  are  on  common  ground. 
Both  alike  seek  the  renewing  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  for  the  salvation  of  the  scholars,  both  need  to 
feel  that  power  in  their  own  hearts.  Whoever  en- 
gages in  the  Sunday-school  work,  in  any  of  its  de- 
partments, needs,  above  all  other  qualifications,  that 
of  a  renewed  heart,  thoroughly  devoted  to  the  Mas- 
ter's service.  There  are  emergencies,  indeed,  in 
which,  rather  than  let  a  class  be  disbanded,  a  teacher 
may  rightly  be  employed  who  is  not  a  converted 
person.  But  no  emergency  seems  possible  in  which 
it  would  be  right  to  place  an  unconverted  man  in 
the  position  of  Sunday-school  superintendent.  In 
regard  to  the  other  qualifications  which  are  to  be 
spoken  of,  they  are  all  desirable,  and  the  person 
should  be  selected  who  has  the  greatest  amount  and 
variety  of  them.  But  this  one  qualification  is  indis- 
pensable. No  matter  what  a  man's  abilities  or  at- 
tainments may  be,  he  is  not  to  be  once  thought  of 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT.  5 1 

for  the  office  unless  he  is  a  real,  earnest,  devoted 
Christian. 

There  is  such  a  unanimity  of  opinion  on  this  point 
that  it  has  seemed  hardly  necessary  to  name  it,  much 
less  to  dwell  upon  it.  Yet  I  shall  have  to  dwell  so 
much  upon  other  points,  and  especially  upon  those 
qualities  which  relate  rather  to  one's  ordinary  bus- 
iness capacity,  that  there  may  possibly  be  the  risk  of 
misapprehension.  Let  me  be  understood,  then, 
once  for  all,  as  holding  not  only  that  the  Sunday- 
school  superintendent  should  be  a  real,  sincere,  earn- 
est Christian,  but  that  this  element  of  character  is  the 
very  first,  the  principal,  the  main  consideration  in 
estimating  his  fitness  for  the  office.  The  superin- 
tendent should  not  only  be  pious,  but  eminent  for 
piety.  He  should  be  one  who  feels  the  burden  of 
souls  upon  him  ;  one  who  is  much  in  secret  prayer, 
crying  mightil}'  to  God  night  and  day  for  the  out- 
pouring of  the  Spirit ;  one  who,  without  importunity 
or  solicitation  from  others,  from  the  mere  yearnings 
of  his  own  irrepressible  desires,  will  make  large 
sacrifices  of  ease,  of  time  and  of  money  for  the  pro- 
motion of  the  cause  ;  one  who  yearns  to  see  souls 
saved  and  the  Master  honored  more  than  he  longs 
or  labors  for  success  in  any  worldly  business. 

This  earnest,  whole-souled  piety  has  a  wonderful 
transforming  eflect  upon  the  character,  developing 
in  every  direction  whatever  other  natural  qualifica- 
tions a  man  may  have.  It  redoubles  his  vigilance, 
his  punctuality,  his   labors   of  every  kind  ;    it  gives 


52  THE   SUPERINTENDENT. 

tact  to  the  awkward,  it  makes  the  slow  of  speech 
eloquent.  The  man  who  has  this  earnest,  burning, 
self-sacrificing,  self-consecrating  zeal  will  find  time, 
even  at  the  expense  of  worldly  interests,  to  do  some- 
thing daily  for  his  school.  He  will  deal  faithfully  in 
private  with  the  delinquent  teacher.  He  will  visit 
sick,  or  neglected,  or  truant  scholars.  He  will  seek, 
as  for  hid  treasures,  for  every  symptom  of  the  work 
of  the  Spirit  upon  the  hearts  of  the  children.  Every 
teacher,  every  class,  every  scholar  will  be  engraved 
upon  his  heart ;  for  every  one  of  them  will  he  make 
statedly  earnest  personal  supplication  ;  not  one  of  all 
the  crowd  will  appear  before  him  on  the  Sabbath 
whose  name  has  not  been  on  his  lips  at  some  time 
during  the  week,  as  he  has  wrestled  with  God  in 
secret  prayer.  Such  a  man,  so  coming  before  the 
school,  so  mingling  among  the  scholars,  must  needs 
be  a  mighty  power  for  good.  The  superintendent 
who  has  to  the  full  this  first,  main  qualification  for 
the  oflSce  can  hardly  fail  of  a  good  measure  of  suc- 
cess, whatever  other  secondary  qualities  he  may 
lack. 

2.    The  Second  Qualification, 

Executive  Ability.  The  superintendent  should 
have  good  executive  ability.  It  is  not  easy  to  define 
exactly  what  is  meant  by  this  term.  The  thing  it- 
self, however,  is  something  that  we  all  recognize 
wherever  we  see  it.  It  is,  to  speak  generally,  the 
ability  to  see  clearly  what  agencies  are  needed  for 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT.  53 

success  in  any  enterprise,  combined  with  a  certain 
inventive  power  in  finding  out  such  agencies  and 
employing  them  in  their  appropriate  work.  A  man 
of  executive  abihty  is  not  the  one  who  attempts  to 
do  everything  himself,  but  one  who  knows  how  to 
utilize  the  talents  of  other  people.  A  man  who  is 
fit  to  superintend  a  railroad  or  a  machine  shop  or  a 
cotton  mill,  or  to  manage  any  large  business  in  which 
the  co-operation  of  many  human  wills  is  concerned, 
has  the  kind  of  executive  ability  required  in  superin- 
tending a  Sunday-school.  A  man  is  wanted  who 
knows  how  to  make  others  co-operate  harmoniously 
and  efficiently  to  a  common  end.  Such  talent, 
though  undoubtedly  rare,  is  not  so  rare  as  is  gener- 
ally supposed.  All  the  organized  agencies  of  busi- 
ness require  it,  and  so  tend  continually  to  develop  it. 
What  we  want  is  to  summon  to  our  aid  in  the  Sun- 
day-school just  that  kind  of  aid  which  every  ex- 
tended business  enterprise  seems  somehow  to  succeed 
in  finding.  The  reason  that  this  quality  is  so  often 
wanting  in  Sunday-school  management  is  that  those 
who  select  the  superintendent  do  not  distinctly  look 
for  this  as  a  leading  and  indispensable  requisite. 
They  forget  that  it  is  not  the  man  who  can  make 
the  best  prayer,  not  the  man  who  can  speak  with 
greatest  glibness  on  anniversary  occasions,  not  even 
the  man  who  is  the  best  teacher,  that  is  wanted,  but 
the  one  who  combines  with  the  first  qualification  I 
have  mentioned,  the  best  executive  and  administra 
tive  ability. 
5* 


54  THE  SUPERINTENDENT. 

3.    Things  Not    Wanted. 

There  are  some  things  not  wanted  in  the  superin- 
tendent. 

1.  He  should  not  be  fussy.  It  is  not  easy  to 
define  in  words  what  is  meant  by  this  epithet,  but 
probably  every  reader  understands  it  without  a 
definition.  Some  superintendents  make  such  an 
ado  about  every  little  thing,  good  or  bad,  that  takes 
place  in  the  school,  as  to  keep  the  attention  of  the 
classes  all  the  while  distracted.  The  superintendent 
should  study  composure  of  manner  in  conducting  the 
routine  of  business,  and  so  far  as  possible  avoid  at- 
tracting the  attention  of  either  scholars  or  teachers 
except  when  he  specifically  wants  their  attention. 

2.  The  superintendent  should  not  be  ft'etful. 
He  needs  especially  to  guard  against  this  dispo- 
sition, because  in  a  large  school  there  are,  of 
necessity,  many  things  to  fret  and  worry  him  ;  and  if 
he  yields  to  the  temptation  and  loses  his  equanimity, 
he  is  sure  to  make  matters  worse.  Some  things  will 
go  wrong,  no  matter  how  well  he  may  lay  his  plans. 
There  will  be  noise  in  one  class,  a  teacher  absent  in 
another,  bad  teaching  or  bad  example  in  another. 
The  librarian  may  be  behindhand  in  his  work,  or 
the  secretary  not  accurate  enough  in  his  entries,  or 
ill  feeling  may  show  itself  in  scholars  or  in  teachers. 
Let  the  superintendent  resolve  to  do  what  he  can 
to  allay  discontent  and  to  keep  the  machine  in 
good  working  order,  not  ashamed  to  profit  by  his 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT.  55 

own  mistakes,  when  he  makes  mistakes,  and  then 
receive  with  equanimity  the  result,  whatever  it 
may  be. 

3.  The  superintendent  should  not  be  noisy.  He 
should  learn  to  step  lightly,  to  speak  gently  and 
to  keep  his  hand  off  the  bell.  When  will  superin- 
tendents learn  that  making  noise  is  not  the  way  to 
stop  noise?  If  the  school  is  getting  noisy,  look 
quietly  round  the  room  till  you  see  just  where  the 
noise  is,  and  going  there  put  your  finger  directly  on 
the  cause.  Say  to  Mr.  A.,  "  Perhaps  you  are  speak- 
ing a  little  louder  than  you  are  aw\are."  Say  to  Mr., 
B.,  "  Could  you  not  get  the  boys  in  your  class  to 
answer  in  a  rather  lower  tone?"  Say  to  Air.  C, 
"  The  boys  at  tins  end  of  the  bench  are  taking  ad- 
vantage of  your  back  while  you  are  turned  round  to 
talk  to  those  at  the  other  end."  Say  to  the  librarian, 
"Ask  your  assistants  to  be  a  little  more  quiet  in  the 
discharge  of  their  duties."  Find  some  one  to  take 
charge  of  that  class  which  is  running  riot  without  a 
teacher.  Go  round  thus  from  point  to  point,  where 
the  chief  sources  of  noise  exist,  and  use,  in  the  most 
noiseless  way  possible,  the  means  of  suppression  at 
your  disposal.  Remember  that,  for  reducing  a 
noisy  school  to  order,  one  pair  of  eyes  is  worth 
twenty  pair  of  lungs.  If,  instead  of  these  quiet 
means  of  repression,  you  go  rushing  about  the  room 
as  some  superintendents  do,  bell  in  hand,  rattling, 
ringing,  shouting,  stamping,  snapping  your  fingers, 
pounding  the  desk,   and  making  all  sorts  of  frantic 


5^  THE  SUPERINTENDENT. 

gestures,  you  only  make  confusion  worse  confounded. 
Be  quiet  if  you  would  have  quiet. 

4.  The  superintendent  should  not  be  a  great 
talker.  Frequent  harangues  from  the  desk  are 
the  bane  of  a  school.  Let  not  the  superintendent 
mistake  his  function  for  that  of  the  teacher.  From 
the  desk,  as  from  the  central  spring  of  motion,  he 
should  indeed  direct  and  penetrate  all  the  general 
movements  of  the  school — the  prayer,  the  singing, 
the  responsive  reading,  and  so  forth.  But  if  he  cuts 
short  the  time  of  the  teachers  for  the  purpose  of 
haranguing  the  school,  whether  upon  the  lesson  or 
upon  anything  else,  he  is  a  trespasser.  There  are 
times,  indeed,  when  the  superintendent  should  ad- 
dress the  school  from  the  desk.  But  to  do  so  habit- 
ually and  as  a  matter  of  course,  on  closing  the  school, 
is  a  grievous  mistake.  It  is  unfortunately  a  mistake 
made  most  frequently  by  those  who  seem  least  con- 
scious of  their  inability  to  speak  profitably  to  chil- 
dren. They  seem  to  have  no  faculty  of  seeing  that, 
while  they  are  talking,  not  one  child  in  ten  is 
listening  to  them.  When  the  superintendent  has 
something  special  to  say  to  the  school  —  which 
will  of  course  happen  occasionally — the  very  rarity 
of  it  will  draw  attention.  And  let  him  know  be- 
forehand exactly  what  he  is  going  to  say.  The 
extemporaneous  fumbling  in  which  some  indulge 
in  presence  of  a  Sunday-school  betrays  a  contempt 
for  the  institution  which  soon  recoils  on  the  per 
petrator. 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT.  S7 

The  school  is  to  be  pitied  that  has  a  fussy,  a  fret- 
ful, a  noisy  or  a  talking  superintendent. 

4.  Putthig  Forth  a  Personal  Influence. 

The  word  personality  is  commonly  used  to  mean 
something  said  or  written  which  refers,  especially  in 
a  disparaging  way,  to  the  conduct  or  character  of 
another.  It  is  not  that  kind  of  personality  of  which 
I  wish  now  to  speak.  What  I  refer  to  is  that  put- 
ting forth  of  direct,  personal  influence  which  consti- 
tutes in  every  enterprise  one  of  the  great  elements  of 
power.  It  is  an  indispensable  feature  in  the  work 
of  the  Sunday-school  superintendent. 

In  the  solution  of  a  mifthematical  problem,  or  in  the 
investigation  of  a  metaphysical  truth,  one  may  be  as 
impersonal  as  he  pleases — the  more  impersonal  and 
abstract  the  better.  But  in  the  management  of  af- 
fairs where  human  interests  are  concerned,  and 
where  living  souls,  with  all  their  varied  passions, 
prejudices,  aflections  and  wills  are  the  factors  in 
every  problem  that  comes  up  for  solution,  mere 
reason  and  logic,  separated  from  all  personal  consid- 
erations and  influences,  do  not  go  far.  The  superin- 
.tendent  who  wishes  to  accomplish  anything  substan- 
tial must  throw  himself  into  the  work.  It  is  not  in 
mere  rules  to  govern  a  school.  Government  of  any 
kind  should  indeed  act  accordmg  to  rule.  But  after 
all  there  is  no  vitality  in  a  mere  rule.  Governing  is 
in  its  essence  a  personal  matter.  Whoever  moulds 
and   manages  the  characters  of  others,  especially  in 


58  THE   SUPERINTENDENT. 

an  organization  like  that  of  the  Sunday-school,  must 
do  it,  not  by  a  code  of  rules  which  in  themselves  are 
so  much  dead  paper,  but  by  bringing  his  personal 
influence  to  bear  upon  the  scholars  and  teachers  un- 
der his  direction. 

It  is  a  great  mistake  in  a  superintendent  to  be 
afraid  of  showing  emotion.  It  is  not  in  human  na- 
ture to  be  greatly  influenced  by  any  one  unless  there 
is  felt  to  be  some  bond  of  sympathy  between  the  par- 
ties. The  superintendent  should  be  a  man  of  a  sym- 
pathetic nature,  and  should  not  shrink  from  giving 
expression  to  his  sympathies.  This  is  the  Scripture 
method.  The  Bible  does  not  set  forth  bald  truth  in 
syllogisms  and  logical  statements  like  an  algebraic 
equation,  or  like  the  formulas  of  chemical  affinity, 
but  teaches  us  doctrines  and  duties  in  their  connec- 
tions with  human  interests  and  passions.  "  The 
words  of  King  Lemuel,  the  prophecy  that  his  77ioth- 
er  taught  him."  Here  the  affection  of  a  loving  boy 
for  the  mother  that  bore  him  is  used  to  give  force 
to  the  divine  precepts.  "My  son,  hear  the  instruc- 
tion of  thy  father^  and  forsake  not  the  law  of  thy 
mother.''^  •"'  Hear,  ye  children,  the  instruction  of  a 
father.,  and  attend  to  know  understanding.  For  I 
was  VL\y  father's  son,  tender  and  only  beloved  in  the 
sight  of  my  mother.^''  Thus,  everywhere  in  Scrip- 
ture, the  tenderest  and  most  endearing  of  earthly  re- 
lations are  appealed  to  in  moving  men  to  receive 
\vhat  is  in  itself  true,  or  to  do  what  is  in  itself  right. 
It  is  even  represented  as  one  of  the  reasons  for  the 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT.  59 

incarnation  that  the  Saviour,  being  himself  a  man, 
might  be  one  who  could  be  touched  with  the  feeling 
of  our  infirmities — one  who  could  sympathize  with 
us — one  to  whom  we  could  go  in  our  troubles  as  we 
would  go  to  a  brother. 

A  superintendent  who  would  make  himself  y<?// 
all  through  his  school  must  continually  put  himself 
forth — not  egotistically,  not  dictatorially,  but  by  a 
warm,  genuine,  7Jianifested  sympathy.  There  is  in 
the  minds  of  many  good  men  a  constitutional  shrink- 
ing from  this  process  of  sending  out  their  feelings  to- 
ward others.  They  are  afraid  of  being  too  demon- 
strative. This  natural  timidity  is  increased  by  the 
imfavorable  criticisms  which  they  hear  in  regard  to 
others  who  make  a  great  show  of  interest  in  the 
work.  But  I  am  not  advocating  sham,  or  pretence, 
or  a  mere  show  of  interest  where  the  reality  itself  is 
wanting.  If  the  superintendent  has  not  this  real  in- 
terest in  his  scholars  or  his  teachers,  no  make-believe 
will  take  its  place.  Even  if  he  has  a  genuine  feeling 
of  interest  in  them,  yet  if  his  controlling  motive  in 
the  matter  is  a  love  of  display  or  a  desire  to  show 
himself  oft',  the  weakness  will  make  itself  seen 
through  all  his  attempted  disguises,  and  he  will  not 
win  the  confidence  and  affection  which  he  seeks. 

But  some  superintendents,  seeing  instances  of  self- 
seeking  and  of  pretence  of  this  sort,  make  the  mis- 
take of  going  into  the  opposite  extreme,  and  of  not 
showing  the  love  and  sympathy  wdiich  they  really 
feel.     When  they  speak  to  their  school,  it  is  always 


6o  THE   SUPERINTENDENT. 

with  a  sort  of  diplomatic  reserve.  Surely  tliis  is  not 
the  kind  of  feelingf  wliich  ought  to  exist  between  a 
superintendent  and  his  school.  The  only  remedy  for 
a  superintendent  who  feels  this  embarrassing  shy- 
ness is  to  have  such  a  personal  interest  in  every 
teacher  and  every  scholar  that  he  cannot  help  show- 
ing it.  And  the  true  way  to  awaken  this  interest  is, 
by  continual  visitation  and  inquiry,  to  make  himself 
personally  acquainted  with  every  member  of  his 
charge.  We  cannot  feel  a  personal  interest  in  any 
one  unless  we  know  something  about  him — who  he 
is,  where  he  is,  what  are  his  surroundings,  what  has 
been  his  history. 

To  obtain  this  knowledge  of  all  the  members  of  a 
large  school  is  no  light  matter.  It  implies  a  great 
deal  of  labor.  One  must  take  many  weary  walks, 
and  give  to  the  subject  many  hours  of  patient,  plod- 
ding inquiry  outside  of  the  time  occupied  with  the 
sessions  of  the  school.  The  superintendent  needs  to 
have  the  same  thoroughly  familiar  knowledge  of  his 
school  that  the  teacher  should  have  of  the  lesson, 
and  this  knowledge  is  to  be  bought  by  labor  only. 
But  once  obtained,  it  is  an  element  of  power.  It'is 
the  only  thing  that  makes  real  sympathy  possible  or 
its  manifestation  easy  and  natural. 

A  superintendent  who  thus  knows  personally 
every  member  of  his  school  can  let  his  feelings  of 
kindness  flow  forth  toward  them  intelligently  in  all 
the  little  details  of  administration  without  the  ap- 
pearance of  affectation,  and  he  will  almost  certainly 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT.  6 1 

find  himself  doing  so  without  so  much  as  once 
thinking  of  it.  His  mind  will  be  so  much  occupied 
with  his  scholars  that  he  will  forget  all  about  himself. 
This  self-forgetfulness,  in  the  very  act  of  the  most 
intense  self-projection,  gives  to  its  possessor  a  sort  of 
magnetic  power.  It  gives  him  the  utmost  freedom 
in  throwing  his  own  personal  wishes  and  opinions 
as  a  make-weight  into  the  scale  in  all  the  number- 
less decisions  which  scholars  and  teachers  are  called 
upon  to  make.  It  helps  them  ;  it  is  wise  and  right 
in  him.  Tlie  superintendent  should  distinctly  aim 
to  put  forth  this  kind  of  personality — to  make  him- 
self personal!}^  felt  in  every  class  and  by  every  mem- 
ber of  his  school. 

5.    Knowledge  of  what  is  Passing  in  the  School. 

The  superintendent  ought  to  know  thoroughly 
what  is  going  on  in  his  school.  This  is  by  no  means 
an  easy  task.  He  ought  to  be  able  to  gauge  the 
mental  attainments  and  the  capacity  of  each  of  the 
teachers,  to  know  what  amount  of  preparation  they 
make  for  the  weekly  lessons,  what  are  their  methods 
of  teaching,  and  what  they  actually  do  teach  or  fail 
to  teach.  I  once  knew  a  lady  who  interested  very 
much  her  class  of  intelligent  girls,  but  on  inquiry  it 
was  found  that  they  were  being  indoctrinated  in  no- 
tions about  religion  and  the  Bible  quite  at  variance 
with  the  standards  of  the  church  to  which  the  school 
belonged.  In  another  instance  a  class  was  ap- 
parently in  a  very  flourishing  condition,  but  the  rapt 
6 


62  THE   SUPERINTENDENT. 

attention  of  the  children,  which  gave  such  a  pleasing 
appearance  to  a  visitor  or  a  casual  observer,  was  due 
to  the  fact  that  the  romantic  young  lady  who  had 
charge  of  it  merely  entertained  the  children  Sunday 
after  Sunday  with  a  succession  of  captivating  stories 
instead  of  indoctrinating  them  in  Bible  knowledge. 
Another  teacher,  a  gentleman,  who  had  a  flourishing 
Bible-class  for  larger  boys,  kept  it  full  by  giving 
them  entertaining  bits  of  history  and  natural  science. 
Now  it  is  the  business  of  the  superintendent,  with- 
out playing  the  spy  or  the  eaves-dropper,  yet  in  some 
way,  to  know  what  his  teachers  are  and  what  they 
are  doing.  It  is  not  in  rules  to  prescribe  how  this 
knowledge  shall  be  acquired.  No  two  men  will 
acquire  it  alike.  The  man  must  cultivate  a  talent 
for  observation.  An  eminent  dry  goods  merchant 
of  Philadelphia  some  years  ago  constructed  a  store 
with  special  reference  to  his  idea  of  superintendence. 
His  own  private  office  was  perched  up  midway  be- 
tween the  upper  and  the  lower  floors,  and  every  desk 
and  counter  in  the  establishment  was  so  arranged 
as  to  come  within  the  range  of  vision  from  this  un- 
seen observatory.  There,  spider-like,  sitting  at  the 
centre  of  his  web,  he  could  look  out  upon  every  boy 
and  girl  and  man  and  customer  in  the  vast  estab- 
lishment without  once  showing  himself.  It  was  a 
mechanically  perfect  system  of  espionage.  For  my 
own  part,  after  being  made  acquainted  with  this 
arrangement,  I  never  entered  the  store  without  a 
feeling  of  degradation.     I  am  very  certain  the  system 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT.  63 

must  have  defeated  itself  by  its  debasing  eflects  upon 
the  minds  of  the  employes.  It  begot  eye-service 
instead  of  open-handed  honesty.  There  is  another 
large  trading  establishment  with  which  I  have  been 
for  many  years  familiar,  in  which  no  such  mean  and 
oflensive  tricks  are  resorted  to,  and  yet  it  is  evident 
that  the  gentlemanly  proprietor,  as  he  passes  in  and 
out  through  the  various  departments  of  his  little 
kingdom,  is  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  personal 
peculiarities  and  the  modes  of  business  of  every 
employd. 

The  Sunday-school  su^^erintendent,  of  all  men, 
must  not  play  the  spy  upon  his  fellow-laborers.  And 
yet,  if  he  is  to  do  his  own  work  intelligently  and  well, 
he  must  know  what  they  are  doing  and  what  they 
can  do.  He  must  have  a  similar  knowledge  in  re- 
gard to  the  affairs  of  the  librarian  and  the  library. 
He  must  know  as  much  as  practicable  of  each  scholar. 
I  put  in  a  qualification  here,  because  in  a  large  school 
it  is  hardly  possible  for  a  superintendent  to  be  thor- 
oughly acquainted  with  each  scholar;  yet  the  nearer 
he  can  approach  this  knowledge  the  better.  A  su- 
perintendent's power  in  the  school  is  increased  in 
proportion  to  the  fulness  of  this  personal  knowledge. 
It  would  be  well  if  he  knew  fiimiliarly  the  name, 
residence  and  domestic  circumstances  of  every  schol- 
ar, as  well  as  of  every  teacher.  Many  of  the  sad 
mistakes  which  mar  his  work  would  be  avoided  if 
through  visitation  in  the  different  homes  he  acquired 
this  knowledge. 


64  THE   SUPERINTENDENT. 

6.  Knowledge  of  the  Lesson. 

The  superintendent  must  know  thoroughly  the 
lesson.  I  say  '"''the''''  lesson,  because  I  have  in  mind 
those  schools  which  have  a  uniform  lesson  for  the 
whole  school.  Whether  there  is  or  is  not  a  teachers* 
meeting,  in  which  the  common  lesson  is  studied  and 
reviewed  under  the  supervision  of  the  superintendent, 
he  ought  in  any  case  to  prepare  himself  on  the  lesson 
for  the  week  even  more  laboriously  and  minutely  than 
those  who  have  the  direct  charge  of  classes.  The  fact 
that  the  superintendent  is  thoroughly  familiar  with 
every  minute  point  of  the  lesson  exerts  insensibly  a 
wholesome  influence  on  both  scholars  and  teachers. 
Neither  teachers  nor  scholars  are  ambitious  of  expos- 
ing their  ignorance  in  the  presence  of  one  whose  quick 
ear  is  sure  to  notice  the  least  mistake,  even  though 
he  may  never  mention  it.  Besides,  the  superintend- 
ent will  be  often  appealed  to  for  information  upon 
different  points  in  the  lesson,  and  he  ought  to  be  able 
to  resolve  at  once  every  such  difficulty  brought  to 
him. 

Moreover,  though  the  superintendent  should  be 
sparing  of  his  talk,  as  before  intimated,  yet  occasion- 
ally at  least,  in  closing  the  school,  he  may  find  it 
important  to  address  the  school  upon  something  con- 
nected with  the  lesson,  and  nothing  but  an  entire 
familiarity  with  the  lesson  will  enable  him  to  do  so 
with  the  proper  effect.  Nothing  Is  easier  than  for 
a  superintendent  to  weaken  his  authority  with  both 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT.  65 

scholars  and  teachers  by  uni^remeditated,  injudicious 
talk  from  the  desk. 

Knowledge,  then,  is  of  transcendent  importance 
to  the  superintendent — a  knowledge  of  the  lesson 
and  a  kuQwledge  of  his  school — not  vague,  dreamy- 
ideas,  but  specific,  certain,  direct  knowledge — such 
knowledge  as  comes  only  from  hard  woi  k,  but  always 
brings  with  it  power. 

In  the  various  essays  which  I  have  read  about  the 
office  of  Sunday-school  superintendent,  it  has  always 
seemed  to  me  that  there  was  a  good  deal  of  waste  of 
words.  Talents  of  various  kinds  are  enumerated, 
the  necessity  of  which  no  one  would  question.  The 
onl}^  difficulty  is  to  find  the  man  who  possesses  them. 
We  must  take  for  our  superintendent  the  best  man 
we  can  get  in  the  congregation.  If  there  are  certain 
natural  gifts  which  he  lacks,  we  cannot  clothe  him 
with  them  by  merely  prescribing  them  as  among  the 
qualifications  for  th^  office.  But  there  are  requisites 
for  the  office  vv^hich  are  within  the  reach  of  every 
man  who  will  take  the  necessary  pains,  and  these 
requisites  we  cannot  insist  on  too  much.  Not  every 
man  has  a  pleasant  voice  or  a  winning  address ;  not 
ever}^  man  is  gifted  by  nature  with  what  we  call  tact. 
It  is  not  in  books,  or  essays,  or  convention  resolu- 
tions to  give  these  qualities  to  those  from  whom  na- 
ture has  withheld  them.  But  every  superintendent 
who  wishes  it,  and  who  will  take  the  necessary  pains, 
may  have  that  k)io-jcledgc  of  his  scholars  and  of  what 
they  are  studying,  of  wliich  I  have  been  speaking. 
6*  E 


66  THE   SUPERINTENDENT. 

The  proper  amount  of  labor  will  ensure  him  this  great 
desideratum.  It  may  cost  one  more  labor  than  it 
costs  another ;  but  the  knowledge  will  come  if  he 
will  only  pay  the  price,  and  it  will  assuredly  make 
him  potential  in  the  management  of  his  school.  In- 
stead of  sighing  vainly  for  things  beyond  his  reach, 
let  him  set  himself  diligently  to  work  at  this  which 
he  can  compass. 

7.  Bestowing  Atte?ztion  upon  All. 

Another  point  equally  unambitious  and  unpre- 
tending, yet  equally  within  the  reach  of  honest  en- 
deavor, is  to  give  every  scholar  and  teacher,  and  to 
every  part  of  the  working  of  the  school,  some  fair 
amount  of  attention.  The  work  of  the  superintend- 
ent should  be  much  more  a  work  of  detail  than 
many  persons  imagine.  It  does  not  consist  in  mak- 
ing now  and  then  a  grand  Splurge,  but  in  incessant 
and  almost  omnipresent  labor — doing  a  little  here 
and  a  little  there,  going  round  to  all  parts  of  the 
machinery,  like  tlie  engineer  with  his  oil-can,  lubri- 
cating this  joint,  putting  the  screw  on  that,  and  see- 
ing that  every  part  is  in  good  working  order.  Some 
men,  of  course,  have  a  more  natural  aptitude  for  this 
kind  of  work  than  others  have.  But  it  is  obvious 
that  every  one  may  fulfil  this  condition  of  the  office 
who  will  take  the  necessary  pains.  Any  superin- 
tendent who  has  fulfilled  the  j^receding  conditions — • 
who  knows  every  class,  every  teacher,  every  scholar, 
every  part  of  the  lesson,  every  book  in  the  library — 


rilE   SUPERINTENDENT.  67 

can  know  perfectly  well  whether  there  is  any  class, 
scholar,  teacher,  or  other  part  of  his  little  kingdom 
to  which  he  is  not  giving  attention  and  help,  and  by 
increasing  sufficiently  his  labor  and  activity  he  can 
supply  the  defect.  He  cannot,  perhaps,  be  any  more 
eloquent  or  persuasive  as  a  speaker  ;  he  cannot  com- 
mand the  dexterity  and  the  winning  address  of  some  ; 
but  he  can  attend  to  the  wants  of  Richard  as  well  as 
to  those  of  William  ;  he  can  see  that  the  children  in 
that  obscure  corner  of  the  room  are  cared  for  as  well 
as  those  in  a  more  conspicuous  position  ;  he  can  see 
that  the  librarians  are  doing  their  work  without  in- 
terfering with  the  work  of  the  teachers  ;  he  can  find 
some  one  to  look  after  that  sick  child  who  is  kept 
from  school  from  illness,  or  that  bad  child  who  is 
playing  truant.  The  superintendent,  in  short,  if  he 
will,  may  make  himself  pervasive  —  reacliing  and 
touching  every  part  of  the  complicated  machinery  un- 
der his  control — and  it  is  this  faithful,  humble  work 
ofomnipresent  detail,  rather  than  shining  and  conspic- 
uous gifts,  which  brings  out  great  results  in  the  end. 

8.  Having  SyjHpathy  xvitk  All. 

Still  another  point,  not  requiring  special  natural 
endowments,  but  coming  within  the  reach  of  every 
superintendent  who  is  willing  to  pay  the  price,  is 
that  he  have  an  active  sympathy  with  every  member 
of  his  school,  whether  teacher  or  scliolar,  entering 
with  feeling  into  their  joys  and  sorrows,  their  suc- 
cesses and  llieir  chsappointmcnts.     Here,  again,  men 


6S  THE   SUPERINTENDENT. 

difier  in  the  facility  with  which  they  enter  into  the 
feelings  of  others.  It  is  for  some  a  very  hard  work 
to  become  sharers  in  the  experiences  of  another. 
But  there  is  no  man  who  cannot  feel  this  active  sym- 
pathy if  he  will,  and  every  time  he  allows  his  sympa- 
thies to  be  thus  exercised,  the  exercise  of  them  will 
become  easier,  until  finally  they  will  flow  forth 
spontaneously  and  readily  on  every  approjDriate 
occasion.  I  am  disposed  to  emphasize  this  point, 
because  I  am  persuaded  that  it  is  a  good  deal  over- 
looked and  underrated.  It  makes  a  great  difference 
in  the  success  of  a  child  in  school,  especially  if  it  be 
one  who,  from  ignorance,  humbleness  of  position,  or 
infirmity  of  any  kind,  naturally  needs  help  and  sup- 
port, that  such  child  in  its  troubles  should  feel  sure 
of  a  ready  sympathy  from  the  superintendent.  A 
man  having  a  large-hearted  and  ready  sympathy 
has  in  that  very  thing  a  mighty  source  of  power. 
A  man  who  has  learned  not  officiously  to  meddle, 
but  truly  to  sympathize  with  all  those  under  his  con- 
trol, has  therein  one  of  the  very  best  means  of  exer- 
cising that  control.  Here,  too,  as  in  the  previous 
cases,  it  is  a  work  of  almost  infinite  detail.  It  is  not 
by  making  a  gushing  speech  on  some  grand  occasion 
that  the  superintendent  is  to  gain  supreme  ascend- 
ency over  the  hearts  of  his  scholars,  but  by  bestow- 
ing his  sympathies  as  the  .occasions  require,  all  the 
time,  and  on  all  alike. 

No  man  can  reach  the  full  measure  of  success  as  a 
superintendent  who  does  not  make  every  scholar  and 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT.  69 

every  teacher  feel  that  he  or  she  is  individually  known 
by  him,  and  has  in  him  a  ready  sympathizer  and 
friend ;  and  no  man  need  foil  in  producing  this 
impression  w^ho  is  willing  to  give  the  necessary  price. 

9.    Classifying  the   School. 

Next  to  keeping  order,  the  superintendent  has  no 
duty  more  urgent  or  imperative  than  that  of  making 
a  proper  classification  of  his  scholars.  The  duty  is 
not  without  its  difficulties.  Superintendents  often 
enter  upon  their  work  with  vague  ideas  of  what  they 
have  to  do.  They  have  never  distinctly  settled  in 
their  own  minds  on  what  principles  the  classification 
should  be  made,  if  indeed  they  have  fully  settled  the 
question  that  they  have  a  positive  and  distinct  duty 
at  all  in  regard  to  it.  So  when  the  moment  of  action 
comes  they  hesitate  and  are  at  a  loss,  and  let  matters 
drift  without  any  settled  order.  Some  enterprising 
teacher  has  been  missionating  during  the  week,  and 
has  succeeded  in  bringing  several  new  pupils  into 
the  school.  Being  the  fruits  of  her  own  labor,  she 
naturally  wants  to  have  them  in  her  class,  and  they 
themselves,  knowing  perhaps  no  one  in  the  school 
but  her,  and  feeling  timid  and  shy,  wish  to  be  with 
her.  Perhaps  they  even  stipulate  this  as  the  con- 
dition of  remaining  in  school  at  all.  Or  perhaps  the 
new-comers  have  been  led  into  the  school  by  some 
of  the  other  scholars  with  whom  they  are  acquainted, 
and  they  want  to  sit  with  their  friends.  Or  there  is 
some  particular  teacher  in  school  of  whom  they  have 


*]0  THE   SUPERINTENDENT. 

heard,  and  they  have  come  to  join  his  or  her  class. 
More  frequently  they  have  their  dislikes,  and  they 
are  unwilling  to  sit  with  a  certain  pupil  or  in  a  cer- 
tain class,  or  to  be  instructed  by  this  or  that  teacher. 
Or  they  are  large  and  overgrown,  and  they  claim  to 
be  put  in  the  Bible-class,  no  matter  how  deficient 
they  may  be  in  knowledge.  These  are  some  of  the 
difficulties  which  the  superintendent  has  to  meet  in 
disposing  of  new  scholars.  In  the  case  of  pupils 
already  in  the  school  who  are  found  to  have  been  im- 
properly classified,  the  difficulty  of  a  rectification  is 
greatly  increased.  Nowhere  do  children  form  such 
tenacious  attachments  as  in  their  Sunday-school 
class.  There  is  sure  to  be  a  scene  whenever  the 
superintendent  undertakes  to  remove  a  pupil  from 
one  class  to  another,  and  not  unfrequently  the  pupil 
leaves  school  in  consequence.  Children  have  been 
placed  together  because  perhaps  they  happen  to  be 
acquainted  out  of  school,  or  because  they  are  of 
about  the  same  age  or  size,  and  having  formed  a 
part  of  the  same  magic  little  circle  for  a  considerable 
length  of  time,  they  cannot  bear  to  be  torn  from  it. 

The  superintendent  who  forms  to  himself  a  dis- 
tinct plan  for  classifying  his  scholars,  and  who  under- 
takes to  carry  it  out  by  removing  pupils  who  are  out 
of  place  to  the  classes  to  which  of  right  they  ought 
to  belong,  and  who  exercises  the  same  judgment  and 
prerogative  in  assigning  new  scholars  to  their  appro- 
priate classes,  must  expect  to  give  dissatisfaction  in 
many  quarters.     He  need  not  be  surprised  if  some 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT.  71 

of  his  scholars  arc  so  much  offended  as  to  leave  him. 
Even  at  such  a  cost  it  is  better  to  go  forward. 
Should  the  school  be  permanently  diminished  in 
numbers  in  consequence  of  his  insisting  upon  a 
proper  classification,  tlic  evil  would  be  more  than 
counterbalanced  by  the  improved  condition  of  those 
that  remain.  More  good  can  be  accomplished  in  a 
school  of  one  hundred  pupils  well  classified  than  in 
a  school  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  pupils  thrown  to- 
gether promiscuously.  But  there  is  no  danger  of  a 
school's  declining  in  numbers  in  consequence  of  its 
being  carefully  and  judiciously  classified.  For  every 
pupil  or  teacher  that  leaves  in  pique  on- this  account, 
two  or  three  others  will  be  added  on  account  of  the 
improved  tone  of  the  school  which  will  result. 

The  points  to  be  considered  in  classification  are 
age,  size,  social  condition,  intellectual  progress,  and 
individual  peculiarities.  Let  me  say  a  few  words  in 
regard  to  each  of  these. 

I.  Age.  The  superintendent  would  of  course  be 
unwise  who  should  be  governed  by  age  alone  in 
making  up  his  classes  ;  who  should  put  all  his  nine- 
year  olds  into  one  fold,  all  his  ten-year  olds  into  an- 
other, and  so  on.  Yet  there  is  an  extreme  at  the 
other  end  which  needs  equally  to  be  avoided.  Very 
often  adults  come  into  our  Sunday-schools — grown- 
.up  men  and  women — who  can  scarcely  read,  if  even 
they  can  read  at  all,  who  are  not  more  advanced  in 
their  studies  than  are  the  classes  just  above  the  Infant- 
school.     Surely  it  would  not  be  wise   to   put  such 


72  THE   SUPERINTENDENT. 

adults  in  with  children  eight  or  ten  years  old.  The 
arrangement  would  be  uncomfortable  and  unprofit- 
able all  round.  Some  regard  must  be  had  to  the 
age  of  the  scholar  in  assigning  him  to  a  place  in  the 
school.  Other  things  being  equal,  scholars  get  along 
better  together  who  are  of  nearly  equal  age.  Some 
concessions,  therefore,  must  be  made  on  this  point. 
If  a  scholar  is  not  quite  equal  in  attainments  to  the 
class  in  which  you  put  him,  it  is  yet  worthy  of  con- 
sideration whether,  on  the  whole,  he  will  'not  do 
better  there  than  he  would  among  scholars  much 
younger  than  himself.  In  a  large  school,  also,  it 
often  happens  that  there  are  adults  enough  to  form 
several  classes,  and  in  such  a  case  the  superintendent 
may  have  the  means  of  forming  an  adult  class,  all  of 
whom  are  deficient  in  book  knowledge.  Such  op- 
portunities should  be  eagerly  embraced.  The  insti- 
tution is  never  doing  a  more  legitimate  or  a  more 
hopeful  work  than  when  it  numbers  in  its  ranks 
entire  classes  of  adults  who  can  barely  read,  or  even 
who  cannot  read  at  all. 

3.  Size.  Some  superintendents  will  smile  and 
shake  their  heads  when  size  is  mentioned  among  the 
things  to  be  considered  in  making  a  classification. 
Yet  it  is  a  point  which  cannot  be  disregarded  en- 
tirely. It  has  to  be  put  very  much  on  the  same 
footing  as  age.  A  great,  overgrown  bumpkin  often 
does  not  know  enough  to  keep  up  with  the  scholars 
of  his  own  size,  and  yet  he  feels  extremely  uncom- 
fortable if  put  among  the  little  fellows  who  are  his 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT.  73 

equals  in  knowledge,  and  this  feeling  of  discomfort 
and  mortification,  if  not  watched,  will  drive  him 
from  the  school.  If  the  superintendent  has  several 
scholars  of  the  sort  now  described,  he  can  form  a 
class  of  them,  and  thus  dispose  of  the  difficulty. 
When,  however,  this  is  impracticable,  the  best  way 
is  to  take  a  medium  course.  Put  the  scholar  in  a 
class  about  halfway  between  that-  suggested  by  his 
size  and  that  suggested  by  his  attainments.  Though 
he  will  not  profit  there  as  much  as  he  would  in  a 
class  lower  down,  yet  he  may  gain  something,  and 
the  arrangement  may  be  the  means  of  preventing  his 
leaving  school  altogether.  If  indeed  such  an  over- 
grown scholar  is  entirely  willing  to  go  among  the 
little  fellows,  the  superintendent  will  of  course  so 
place  him.  It  is  best  for  the  superintendent  in  such 
cases  to  be  entirely  candid.  Say  to  the  youth 
frankly.  You  could  get  along  better  in  this  class 
(pointing  it  out),  and  I  would  advise  you  for  your 
own  good  to  enter  it.  But  perhaps  you  may  feel 
uncomfortable  among  scholars  so  much  smaller  than 
yourself.  I  can,  if  you  desire  it,  put  you  into  such  a 
class  (pointing  to  one  consisting  of  scholars  rather 
larger),  but  you  will  find  it  a  good  deal  more  diffi- 
cult to  keep  up  with  them  in  their  lessons,  and  per- 
haps not  be  as  pleasantly  situated  as  you  would  be 
among  the  smaller  scholars.  I  will  leave  it  to  your- 
self to  decide. 

Not  unfrequently,  when  the  matter  is  presented  in 
this  way,  the  scholar  will  acquiesce  in  your  views  ; 
7 


74  I^HE   SUPERINTENDENT. 

and  when  he  does  not,  he  is  sure  to  be  pleased  with 
the  evident  consideration  with  which  you  have 
treated  him. 

3.  Social  Co7idition.  The  superintendent  here  is 
treading  upon  dangerous  ground,  and  many  w^ell- 
meaning  people  cry  out  against  all  attempts  in  the 
Sunday-school  to  recognize  in  any  way  the  condition 
of  the  scholar  outride  of  the  school.  Here,  if  any- 
where, it  is  said,  rich. and  poor  should  meet  together, 
and  any  classification  based  upon  social  condition  is 
unchristian  and  wicked.  With  due  deference  I 
would  say,  this  kind  of  talk  is  mere  idle  clamor. 
The  superintendent  should  not  be  frightened  by 
shadows,  no  matter  by  whom  conjured  up.  If  the 
school  is  small,  as  in  most  country  schools,  intel- 
lectual attainments  must  be  almost  the  only  thing  to 
be  taken  into  account  in  making  up  a  class.  But  in 
a  large  city  school  there  may  be  forty  or  fifty,  or  per- 
haps a  hundred,  scholars  about  equal  as  to  attain- 
ments, age  and  size.  Surely  in  grouping  such  a 
number  into  classes  the  superintendent  would  be 
unwise  who  should  not  consider  whether  there  were 
not  other  elements  in  the  problem  which  would 
naturally  draw  some  together  and  drive  others  apart. 
It  is  not  a  question  of  whether  some  are  better  than 
others  or  more  worthy  of  consideration.  In  this 
respect  they  are  all  equal  before  the  eyes  of  the  super 
intendent.  The  question  is,  What  grouping  of  the 
scholars  will  most  conduce  to  harmony,  efficiency 
and  comfort  all  round.''     Which  arrano:ement  will 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT,  7S 

produce  least  constraint  and  embarrassment?  The 
child  of  the  poor  washerwoman  who  lives  in  some 
obscure  court  or  alley  is  just  as  precious  in  the  sight 
of  the  Master  as  the  child  of  wealth  who  lives  on 
Fifth  Avenue.  But  the  poor  child  has  not  the  same 
opportunities  of  books  and  leisure  as  the  other.  The 
temptations  of  the  one  are  difierent  from  those  of  the 
other.  The  entire  current  of  their  ideas  is  difierent. 
They  do  not  feel  at  home  with  each  other.  The 
children  of  the  poor  particularly  feel  disobliged  by 
being  compelled  to  go  into  a  class  with  children 
with  whom  they  do  not  mix  out  of  school,  and  not 
imfrcquently  this  unnatural  mode  of  classification 
drives  away  the  poorer  class  of  children  from  the 
school.  I  cannot  doubt,  therefore,  that,  other  things 
being  equal,  and  the  number  of  scholars  being  suffi- 
ciently large  to  admit  of  it,  some  regard  should  be 
paid  to  the  Social  condition  of  the  scholars  in  assign- 
ing them  to  classes.  Those  scholars  go  best  together 
in  school  who  go  most  together  out  of  school. 

4.  Intellectual  Progress.  It  is  not  necessary  to 
argue  the  importance  of  this  point.  All  superintend- 
ents and  teachers  agree  in  this.  Scholars  do  best 
together  in  Bible  study  who  are  about  on  a  p^r  with 
each  other  in  their  other  studies.  The  superintend- 
ent, therefore,  on  receiving  a  scholar  and  canvass- 
ing the  question  as  to  which  class  to  assign  him, 
should  always  take  into  account  the  progress  which 
the  scholar  has  already  made  in  other  studies,  so  as 
to- put  him  as  nearly  as  may  be  with  his  equals  in 


76  THE   SUPERINTENDENT. 

this  respect.  The  error  of  some  superintendents  is 
that  they  consider  this  point  only,  and  make  no 
allowance  for  the  others  which  have  been  named. 

5.  hidividiial  Peculiarities.  Some  scholars 
have  peculiarities  of  temper  or  of  manners  or  of 
mental  action  which  require  peculiar  treatment,  and 
these  peculiarities  have  to  be  considered  in  deter- 
mining their  classification.  Some  scholars  are  full 
of  life,  with  a  natural  buoyancy  of  disposition  and  a 
tendency  to  fun.  They  bubble  over  on  the  least 
occasion.  If  two  or  three  such  happen  to  be  in  the 
same  class,  they,  without  any  bad  intention,  upset 
all  order  and  study.  The  superintendent  therefore 
may  find  it  wise  to  separate  them.  So  with  other 
peculiarities.  They  cannot,  indeed,  have  a  control- 
ling influence  in  the  general  arrangements  of  the 
school,  but  neither  can  they  be  entirely  ignored  by 
one  who  wants  to  get  along  comfortably. 

The  work  of  classification  is  to  be  performed 
chiefly  in  the  act  of  admitting  new  .scholars.  Occa- 
sionally the  superintendent  may  exercise  his  prerog- 
ative in  this  respect  by  transferring  pupils  from  the 
class  in  which  they  now  are  to  other  classes  for  which 
they  are  better  fitted.  But  this  almost  always  pro- 
duces friction,  and  it  should  be  done,  when  done  at 
all,  with  extreme  caution,  and  after  full  consultation 
with  the  teachers  concerned.  But  when  a  new 
scholar  is  introduced  into  the  school,  whether  brought 
in  by  a  teacher  or  by  a  scholar,  or  coming  of  his  own 
accord,  the  invariable  and  inexorable  rule  should  be 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT.  77 

that  the  schohir  should  be  brought  first  of  all  to  the 
superintendent  before  being  taken  to  any  class.  If 
teachers  or  scholars  bring  in  a  new  recruit,  let  them 
exercise  entire  freedom  in  expressing  to  the  superin- 
tendent what  they  know  in  regard  to  the  condition 
and  character  of  the  new  scholar,  and  in  expressing 
also  their  views  in  regard  to  the  class  to  which  he 
should  be  assigned.  But  at  the  same  time  let  it  be 
understood  that  in  this  matter  the  superintendent 
must  be  supreme. 

The  superintendent  should  have  a  bench  or  form  { 
in  some  convenient  part  of  tlTe  room  for  the  recep- 
tion of  new  scholars.  To  this  seat  all  new-comers 
should  be  conducted,  and  there  they  should  remain 
until  the  superintendent  is  at  leisure  to  dispose  of 
them.  He  should,  on  receiving  new  scholars,  in- 
quire of  them  with  much  particularity  their  name, 
age,  residence  (street  and  number),  and  all  the  other 
items  of  information  needed  in  guiding  him  in  the 
classification,  and  these  items  should  be  entered  by 
him  in  a  book.  Some  superintendents,  particularly 
where  the  school  is  large,  leave  it  to  the  secretary  to 
niakt  these  inquiries.  But  the  little  conversation 
with  a  child  needed  for  eliciting  these  particulars 
gives  the  superintendent  the  opportunity  of  forming 
some  opinion  in  regard  to  him.  It  is  a  kind  of  in- 
formal examination  which  cannot  well  be  done  by 
proxy.  The  superintendent  needs  for  his  guidance 
just  the  information  and  the  impression  which  this 
personal  interview  gives.  Let  the  secretary  transfer 
7  * 


78  THE   SUPERINTENDENT. 

to  his  permanent  record  these  items,  so  far  as  needed, 
from  the  superintendent's  note-book,  but  let  the 
original  inquiries  and  notices  be  made  in  all  cases 
by  the  superintendent  himself.  It  is  an  important 
and  intransferable  part  of  his  personal  duties. 

No  function  of  the  superintendent  requires  for  its 
exercise  more  sound  judgment,  good  temper,  and 
nerve  than  this  duty  of  classifying  his  scholars.  It 
will  not  do  to  adojDt  an  iron  rule  in  the  matter,  and 
follow  out  a  theory  regardless  of  consequences.  The 
Sunday-school  work  is  altogether  a  voluntary  work, 
and  a  spirit  of  conciliation  must  be  exercised.  Large 
concessions  must  be  made  to  prejudice,  and  some- 
times even  to  whim  and  caprice.  But  by  persistent 
resolution  in  a  conciliatory  spirit,  and  by  knowing 
exactly  when  it  is  expedient  to  resist  and  when  to 
give  way,  the  superintendent  will  in  the  end  carry 
his  point,  and  will  have  his  reward  in  seeing  the 
school  achieve  results  entirely  unattainable  on  any 
other  basis.  A  good  classification  will  cost  some 
tears,  perhaps  some  heartburnings,  and  it  undoubt- 
edly requires  some  nerve.     But  it  pays. 

lo.  Maintai7iing  Order. 

Good  order  in  a  large  Sunday-school  is  confessedly 
a  difficult  achievement.  It  is  more  difficult  to  main- 
tain order  in  the  Sunda3'-school  than  in  the  secular 
school.  In  the  latter  the  teacher  is  vested  with  more 
official  authority,  and  may  enforce  obedience  if  ne- 
cessary by  punishment  and  by  other  means  of  disci- 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT.  79 

plinc  that  cannot  be  used  in  the  Sunday-school. 
Attendance  in  the  latter  being  voluntary,  a  child,  if 
obliged  to  submit  against  its  will,  may  leave  the 
school  altogether.  The  difficulties  inherent  in  tlie 
case  are  aggravated  by  others  not  necessarily  belong- 
ing to  it,  though  actually  existing  in  ninety-nine  cases 
out  of  a  hundred.  Among  these  may  be  mentioned 
the  fact  that  a  large  part  of  the  teachers  are  young 
and  inexperienced,  without  practiced  skill  either  in 
teaching  or  governing.  Another  source  of  difficulty 
arises  from  the  fact  that  usually  a  large  number  of 
classes  are  reciting  at  the  same  time  in  the  same 
room.  Still  another  difficulty  is  that  the  classes 
come  together  but  once  a  week,  and  then  only  for  a 
single,  short  session.  In  the  daily  school  the  teacher, 
by  continuing  the  pressure  day  after  day,  has  a  bet- 
ter opportunity  of  confirming  his  authorit}^  But  in 
the  Sunday-school,  what  is  gained  one  Sunday  is  in 
danger  of  being  lost  in  the  six  days  intervening. 
Altogether,  it  is  no  easy  matter  to  maintain  order 
and  quiet  among  two  or  three  hundred  children,  or 
even  among  a  hundred  children,  organized  in  a  Sun- 
day-school. 

The  business  of  maintaining  order  in  a  Sunday- 
school,  as  in  every  other  school,  belongs  partly  to 
the  superintendent  or  principal  and  partly  to  the 
teachers.  Neither  of  these  parties  can  fully  succeed 
in  this  point  without  the  efficient  and  wise  co  opera- 
tion of  the  other.  The  duties  of  the  two,  however, 
though   thus  conjoined,  are  yet  in  their  own   nature 


So  THE   SUPERINTENDENT. 

distinct  and  different.  What  the  teacher  has  to  do 
in  the  maintenance  of  order  is  not  only  something  to 
be  done  by  himself  and  by  nobody  else,  but  also 
something  different  in  kind  from  that  to  be  done  by 
any  one  else.  Of  the  teacher's  duty  in  the  matter  of 
order  I  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  hereafter.  My 
remarks  at  the  present  time  will  be  confined  to  the 
duty  of  the  superintendent  in  this  respect. 

Before  proceeding  to  these  remarks,  however,  it  is 
best  to  have  some  distinct  understanding  as  to  what 
school  order  is  and  what  it  includes.  Order  in  Sun- 
day-school consists  chiefly  of  these  three  points : 
doing  things  quietly,  doing  things  at  the  right  time, 
keeping  both  persons  and  things  in  their  right  place. 
Disorder,  accordingly,  consists  in  being  noisy,  out  of 
time,  out  of  place.  This  classification  of  course  is  not 
exhaustive.  Yet  any  one  who  will  take  the  trouble 
to  consider  will  find  that  at  least  nine-tenths  of  what 
may  be  termed  disorder  in  school  may  be  reduced 
under  these  three  heads.     A  few  words  upon  each. 

I.  Doing  things  Quietly.  Some  noise  is  to  be 
expected  in  the  Sunday-school — more,  a  good  deal, 
than  in  other  schools  ;  and  this  not  only  because  the 
reins  of  discipline  cannot  be  drawn  so  tightly  as  in 
other  schools,  but  also  and  mainly  because  there  are 
so  many  classes  in  the  same  room  reciting  at  the 
same  time.  Twenty  or  thirty  or  fifty  classes  all  re- 
citing at  once  in  the  same  room  must  needs  make 
some  noise.  The  eflbrt  of  teachers  and  of  superin- 
tendent should  be,  not  to  suppress  this  noise,  which 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT.  Si 

would  be  as  undesirable  as  it  is  impracticable,  but  to 
keep  it  in  check.  Scholars  and  teachers  should  be 
trained  to  conduct  their  recitations  in  a  subdued  and 
quiet  tone,  just  sutliciently  above  a  whisper  to  make 
what  is  said  distinctly  audible  in  the  class  without 
being  heard  by  those  in  the  adjoining  classes.  When- 
ever the  teacher  or  the  scholars  of  one  class  raise 
their  voices  so  as  to  be  distinctly  overheard  outside 
of  the  class,  they  are  becoming  noisy,  and  need  to  be 
reminded  of  the  error. 

But  there  are  other  sources  of  noise  besides  that 
arising  from  recitation.  The  movements  of  the  libra- 
rians and  of  the  secretary  often  produce  unnecessary 
noise.  Scholars  are  noisy  in  coming  in  and  going 
out.  Chairs  and  benches  are  upset  through  careless- 
ness ;  the  doors  fly  to  with  a  bang.  The  superin- 
tendent himself  oftentimes  is  noisy — talking  in  a  loud 
tone  to  those  around  him,  moving  about  the  room 
with  a  heavy  tread,  worrying  scholars  and  teachers 
with  the  everlasting  tinkling  of  the  bell,  or,  worse 
still,  shouting  aloud  for  silence,  as  if  the  only  way  to 
stop  a  noise  was  to  drown  it  by  making  a  greater 
noise.  The  superintendent  who  would  have  a  quiet 
school  must  first  of  all  learn  to  be  quiet  himself. 

A  superintendent  who  is  good  for  anything  seldom 
sits  at  his  desk.  His  place  is  on  his  feet ;  he  should 
be  moving  continually  about  the  room,  and  nothing 
is  beneath  his  regard  which  can  help  him  in  redu- 
cing the  amount  of  noise  which  his  movements  may 
produce.  He  should  learn  to  set  his  foot  down 
F 


82  THE   SUPERINTENDENT. 

lightly  and  to  see  that  no  "  squeak-leather"  is  put 
into  his  boots.  If  he  finds  the  classes  becoming 
noisy,  the  way  to  stop  the  noise  is,  first  to  listen, 
that  he  may  know  exactly  where  repression  is  most 
needed,  and  then  to  go  to  tlie  spot  as  quietly  as  pos- 
sible and  notify  the  teacher.  A  teacher  and  a  class 
who  are  very  earnestly  engaged  in  the  discussion  of 
a  lesson  often  forget  themselves  and  make  an  undue 
noise  without  being  aware  of  it.  The  superintend- 
ent, from  the  very  fact  of  his  general  oversight  of 
the  room,  is  in  the  position  to  know  when  the  noise 
in  any  quarter  is  becoming  excessive. 

Nine-tenths  of  the  superintendent's  time  in  school 
should  be  spent  in  thus  passing  round  quietly  from 
class  to  class,  using  his  eyes  more  than  his  tongue, 
but  ever  ready  to  put  in  just  the  right  word  at  the 
right  moment,  preventing  disorder  by  removing  its 
causes  and  nipping  it  in  the  bud  before  it  becomes 
general.  The  superintendent  should  never  scold. 
The  moment  he  does  so  he  begins  to  lose  the  respect 
of  the  scholars  and  his  power  over  them.  He  should 
never  show  vexation,  even  if  he  cannot  alwa3'S  help 
feeling  it.  Children  do  many  things  merely  for  the 
pleasure  of  seeing  the  irritation  they  produce.  They 
love  to  tease  you  just  as  they  love  to  tease  a  wasp. 
If  no  irritation  is  produced,  there  is  no  fun  in  it  and 
they  stop. 

Scholars  also  are  prone  to  engage  in  what  is  called 
"  cutting  up,"  which  creates  distraction  if  not  noise. 
It  is  the  business  of  the  superintendent  to  keep  his 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT.  83 

eyes  open  for  anything  of  this  kind,  and  to  arrest  it 
by  the  same  process  by  which  he  arrests  noise.  Let 
him,  without  attracting  unnecessary  observation,  go 
directly  to  the  place  where  the  disorder  exists,  and 
there  do  whatever  is  needed  with  the  least  possible 
noise  or  fuss.  Whether  he  reprimands  a  scholar  or 
asks  the  teacher  to  do  it,  let  him  speak  in  a  whisper. 
The  very  worst  way  for  a  superintendent  to  suppress 
disorder  of  any  kind  is  for  him  to  stand  at  his  desk 
and  shout  or  ring  his  bell.  There  is  but  one  use  for 
the  bell  in  the  school-room,  namely,  to  give  notice 
of  the  general  movements  of  the  school — to  notify 
when  lessons  begin,  when  they  stop,  when  school  is 
to  be  closed,  and  so  forth.  It  shoiild  never  be  used 
for  arresti7ig  noise  and  disorder.  To  use  the  bell 
for  this  purpose  is  a  most  pitiable  and  humiliating 
confession  of  weakness  on  the  part  of  the  superin- 
tendent. 

2.  Doing  TJii7igs  at  the  Right  Time.  The 
superintendent  should  make  out  an  exact  programme 
of  what  is-  to  be  done  in  school,  and  of  the  time  to 
be  allotted  to  each,  and  should  keep  the  school  up  to 
time  with  the  same  strictness  with  which  a  railroad 
engineer  moves  his  train  from  station  to  station. 
The  time  for  opening  and  for  closing  should  be  as 
definite  and  certain  as  that  for  the  departure  of  a 
railroad  train.  There  should  be  a  certain  time  dur- 
ing the  session  for  giving  out  notices,  for  taking  up 
and  giving  out  library  books,  for  distributing  papers, 
for  making  collections,  for  making  reports  of  classes, 


84  THE   SUPERINTENDENT. 

and  these  things  should  be  done  only  at  the  time  ap- 
pointed in  the  programme.  All  this  is  a  matter  of 
order,  and  lies  exclusively  within  the  province  of  the 
superintendent.  It  requires  on  his  part  forethought, 
method,  and  decision.  If  an  item  of  business  of  any 
kind  has  been  forgotten  at  the  right  time,  it  is  better 
generally  to  omit  it  entirely  than  to  interpolate  it  out 
of  its  place. 

In  making  the  programme  two  points  should  be 
kept  firmly  in  mind,  namely,  so  to  order  the  busi- 
ness of  the  school  as  first  to  secure  for  the  devotional 
part  of  the  service  entire  freedom  from  interruption 
of  every  sort,  and  secondly  to  secure  a  good,  solid, 
imbroken  period  of  time  for  the  instruction  of  the 
classes  by  the  teachers.  Nothing  short  of  the  house 
being  on  fire,  or  the  roof  falling  in,  should  interfere 
with  this  time.  No  speech-making,  no  ringing  the 
bell  to  give  a  notice,  no  running  about  of  the  secre- 
tary or  of  the  librarian  for  reports  or  books,  no  in- 
troduction of  distinguished  visitors.  From  the  time 
when  the  bell  notifies  the  teachers  to  begin  their 
lesson  to  the  time  when  the  same  bell  notifies  them 
to  stop  the  lesson,  interruption  of  any  kind  is  as 
much  an  impertinence  as  it  would  be  for  a  like 
reason  to  interrupt  the  minister  in  the  course  of  his 
sermon.  The  time  proper  for  the  lesson  is  in  fact 
about  as  long  as  that  ordinarily  occupied  by  a  ser- 
mon, and  it  should  be  held  just  as  sacred  and  as  free 
from  intrusion. 

3.  Keeping  Things  and  Persons  i?z  Place.  When 


THE  SUPERINTENDENT.  85 

&  child  goes  to  school  for  the  first  time  in  his  life, 
the  first  thing  he  has  to  learn  usually  is  the  necessity 
of  remaining  in  his  seat.  Until  distinctly  told  and 
trained  otherwise,  he  will  very  likely  move  about 
from  one  part  of  the  room  to  another  just  as  he  has 
been  in  the  habit  of  doing  at  home.  The  necessity 
of  sitting  still  must  be  drilled  into  him.  Of  course 
I  do  not  mean  that  children  should  be  immovable 
like  so  many  statues.  A  little  restlessness  and  twist- 
ing about  and  fidgeting  is  to  be  expected.  The 
teacher  is  simply  cruel  who  undertakes  to  stop  it. 
What  is  meant  by  sitting  still  is  the  remaining  in  the 
same  seat.  A  scholar  should  not  be  allowed  to 
change  his  seat  in  the  class,  much  less  to  go  from 
one  class  to  another,  without  the  teacher's  per- 
mission, and  this  latter  only  for  the  most  urgent 
reasons. 

Should  a  scholar  in  any  case  be  allowed  to  go  out 
into  the  yard  during  the  session  of  the  school?  Per- 
haps it  would  not  do  to  forbid  such  a  thing  absolute- 
ly, yet  the  prohibition  should  be  as  nearly  absolute 
as  may  be.  The  Sunday-school  lasts  just  about  as 
long  as  the  church  service,  and  children  are  not 
allowed  to  go  out  of  church  during  the  service  ;  why 
should  it  be  necessary  during  the  time  of  school  ?  If 
the  permission  to  go  out  is  granted,  only  one  should 
go  at  a  time,  and  the  permission  should  be  hedged 
in  with  so  many  difficulties  and  formalities  that  it 
would  be  seldom  sought.  Perhaps  the  safest  check 
would  be  to  let  no  one  go  out  except  on  a  written 


86  THE   SUPERINTENDENT. 

application  from  the  teacher  to  the  superintendent. 
If  any  one  thinks  some  such  stringent  check  is 
not  needed,  let  him  pass  through  the  yard  of  almost 
any  Sunday-school  during  the  time  of  the  session, 
and  he  will  find  that  I  am  speaking  not  without 
cause. 

But  scholars  are  not  the  only  ones  requiring  to  be 
kept  in  place.  Teachers  sometimes  commit  the 
very  great  impropriety  of  leaving  school  during  the 
session,  or  getting  up  from  their  classes  to  converse 
with  other  teachers,  or  with  visitors,  or  going  to  the 
library.  Surely  such  movements  are  an  irregularity 
and  a  disorder,  and  require  the  interposition  of  the 
superintendent. 

The  superintendent  should  in  this  matter  look  to 
thing's  as  well  as  to  persons.  By  things  I  mean 
whatever  in  the  school-room  is  of  a  movable  charac- 
ter— the  benches,  the  chairs,  the  desks,  the  books, 
the  wall  maps,  the  ornaments.  Any  confusion  in 
these  things  has  a  tendency  to  produce  confusion  of 
mind  in  scholars  and  teachers.  On  the  contrary, 
there  is  a  certain  comely  and  even  pictorial  arrange- 
ment of  the  furniture  and  apparatus  of  a  school-room 
which  has  a  corresponding  and  unconscious  moral 
efTect  upon  the  minds  of  the  scholars  and  teachers. 
The  superintendent  is  not  indeed  to  be  the  janitor  or 
housekeeper,  but  he  should  have  an  eye  to  these 
things,  and  see  that  no  confusion  or  disorder  prevails 
in  the  arrangement  of  even  the  furniture  of  the 
school-room. 


T)[iE   SUPERINTENDENT.  87 


1 1 .    Excrclsi}ig    G ov cr 71771  ent. 

A  Sunday-school  does  not  cease  to  be  a  school  be- 
cause it  is  an  organization  for  religious  purposes. 
Its  prime  function  is  that  of  teaching,  and  one  of  its 
necessary  conditions  is  that  of  subordination  and 
obedience,  exactly  as  in  every  other  school.  There 
ma}'  be  cases  in  certain  bad  neighborhoods  where 
the  best  that  can  be  done  is  to  collect  the  children  in 
a  crowd  and  harangue  them  in  a  style  suited  to  their 
rude  natures,  just  as  the  politicians  harangue  a  crowd 
of  roughs  at  a  mass  meeting.  We  have  children  in 
our  cities  who  can  at  first  be  reached  in  no  other 
way,  and  we  have  men  peculiarly  fitted  for  this 
rough  work  ;  a  good  and  important  work  it  is  too. 
But  it  sliould  be  clearly  understood  that  such  gather- 
ings are  not  schools.  A  school  necessarily  implies 
subordinution  and  government.  The  two  correlated 
ideas  of  obedience  on  the  one  side  and  authority  on 
the  other  lie  at  the  basis  of  the  whole  superstructure, 
and  these  two  ideas  imply  in  turn  some  kind  of  sanc- 
tion by  which  in  tlie  last  resort  this  obedience  may 
be  secured  and  this  authority  asserted.  There  must 
be,  even  in  Sunday-school,  some  ultima  ratio^  some 
final  appeal,  which  shall  be  competent  to  enforce  its 
own  laws.  Just  so  far  as  this  power  is  wanting  the 
school  loses  its  living  principle  as  an  organization, 
and  tends  toward  a  mere  disorderly  mass  meeting. 

The  fact  that  such  a  power  exists  and  that  a  know- 
ledge of  its  existence  is  clearly  present  to  the  minds 


88  THE   SUPERINTENDENT. 

of  scholars  and  teachers  makes  an  appeal  to  it  a  rare 
and  exceptional  occurrence.  Indeed,  it  is  a  maxim 
in  all  wise  govermnent  that  the  penalty  of  the  last 
resort  should  be  used  with  the  greatest  rarity,  and 
only  in  the  most  extreme  cases,  and  that  there  should 
be  as  many  intermediate  steps  as  possible  between 
the  first  slight  check  of  a  gentle  admonition  and  the 
full,  final  blow.  But  in  order  that  these  intermediate 
and  gradually  increasing  steps  may  be  of  any  avail 
as  a  check  upon  the  thoughtless  or  the  disorderly, 
that  these  steps  may  be  effectual  in  preventing  the 
necessity  of  appealing  to  that  last  resort,  scholars 
must  feel  that  there  is  such  a  resort  and  that  it  is 
fully  adequate  to  the  end.  Just  in  proportion  to  the 
clearness  of  this  conviction  will  be  the  efficiency  of 
the  lighter  and  more  gentle  class  of  restraints.  Love 
and  tenderness  and  persuasive  admonition  have  a 
tenfold  power  when  coupled  with  a  wholesome  fear. 
Let  a  rude  boy  know  that  you  have  no  means  in  the 
last  resort  for  enforcing  respect  and  obedience,  and 
your  kind  v/ords  will  be  accepted  by  him  as  only  so 
many  acknowledgments  of  weakness  on  your  part. 
On  the  other  hand,  a  conviction  in  his  mind  that  you 
have  all  needful  power  at  your  disposal  makes  him 
feel  that  you  speak  kindly  to  him  because  you  feel 
kindly — that  your  manner  is  not  put  on  to  coax  and 
wheedle  him,  but  wells  up  naturally  and  instinctively 
from  a  loving  and  sympathizing  heart. 

While  insisting  thus  u^Don  the  necessity  of  power 
AS  the  true  basis  of  all  government,  let  us  be  careful 


THE  SUPERINTENDENT,  89 

not  to  run  into  the  extreme  of  making  a  constant 
show  of  authority.  This  needless  flaunting  of  one's  au- 
thority into  the  fiice  of  a  scholar,  like  the  thrusting  of 
the  crimson  banner  before  the  eyes  of  the  enraged 
animal  in  the  bull-fights  of  Spain,  only  provokes  re- 
sistance. The  human  heart  naturally  rebels  against 
whatever  has  the  air  of  mere  assumption,  the  need- 
less and  unprovoked  show  of  power,  as  it  naturally 
acquiesces  and  stands  in  awe  of  a  power  that  is  held 
in  reserve.  There  should  be  in  human  government, 
as  there  is  in  God's,  a  wise  "  hiding  of  his  power" 
(Hab.  iii.  4)  ;  not  an  absolute  concealment,  but  just 
sufficient  intimation  of  its  existence  to  let  us  know 
that  it  is  there,  and  that  it  is  there  in  ample  measure, 
yet  keeping  a  wise  reserve  in  regard  to  the  exact 
mode  of  its  operation.  Nothing  so  strikes  awe  into 
the  heart  as  this  calm,  confident,  mysterious  "  hiding 
of  power."  When  the  Duke  of  Wellington  was  at 
the  head  of  affairs  in  England,  there  was  at  one  time 
a  violent  insurrectionary  spirit  among  the  lower 
classes  in  London,  and  organized  resistance  to  the 
goverHment  was  threatened.  The  duke  brought  the 
troops  into  the  city,  and  it  was  well  known  that  he 
had  given  them  orders,  in  case  the  final  use  of  force 
should  be  necessary,  to  use  the  bayonet  and  solid 
shot,  instead  of  blank  cartridges.  At  the  same  time 
these  troops  were  kept  studiously  out  of  sight,  being 
dravv'n  up  behind  blank  walls,  but  ready  to  issue 
forth  at  a  moment's  notice.  Not  a  soldier  was  to  be 
seen,  but  every  malcontent  in  that  heated   million 

8* 


90  THE   SUPERINTENDENT. 

knew  that  the  mysterious  thunderbolt  was  there.  Its 
power  was  magnified  ten-fold  to  their  excited  imag 
i nations  by  this  very  concealment,  and  in  less  than 
twenty-four  hours  their  courage  had  so  oozed  out 
that  those  hundreds  of  thousands  of  strong  men  were 
quietly  dispersed  by  a  few  resolute  policemen. 

But  what  is  the  power  of  final  resort  in  the  Sun- 
day-school— the  ultima  ratio  of  the  superintendent } 

Here,  it  must  be  confessed,  is  the  weak  point  in 
our  system.  The  ordinary  methods  of  restraint  and 
correction  used  in  other  schools  are  necessarily  ex- 
cluded from  the  Sunday-school.  The  rod  is  out  of 
the  question.  We  cannot  "  keep  in"  after  school. 
The  one  solitary  punishment  in  the  last  resort  is  ex- 
pulsion, and  the  scholar  who  merits  expulsion  is  for 
that  very  reason  the  one  who  most  needs  the  bene- 
fits of  the  school.  The  Sunday-school  teacher  is  a 
missionary,  and,  like  his  great  Exemplar,  his  errand 
is  not  to  the  whole,  but  to  the  sick  ;  not  to  the  right- 
eous, but  to  sinners.  He  goes  to  seek  the  erring,  to 
save  the  lost.  The  child  hardened  in  sin,  with  no 
home  influences  to  help  him,  the  young  outcast  and 
thief  who  has  never  known  the  restraints  of  parental 
authority  and  who  will  not  submit  to  yours,  is  just 
the  one  of  all  others  whose  condition  appeals  most 
strongly  to  your  sympathy,  who  most  needs  your 
help.  It  is  so  difiicult  to  induce  these  young  outlaws 
who  infest  our  streets  and  alleys  to  come  to  the  Sun- 
day-school at  all,  and  we  are  so  glad  when  we  can 
in  any  way  succeed   in  bringing  them  in,  that  we 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT.  91 

must  needs  pause  before  turning  them  out.  Expul- 
sion in  such  a  case  is  virtually  giving  the  child  over 
to  the  unchecked  dominion  of  the  devil. 

What  shall  the  superintendent  do  ? 

Dreadful  as  the  result  may  be  to  the  individual 
scholar,  yet  when  all  other  means  have  been  tried 
and  have  failed,  and  when  the  example  of  the  scholar 
is  producing  in  the  minds  of  otliers  a  defiant  disposi- 
tion which  it  is  found  impossible  otherwise  to  quell, 
the  superintendent  is  bound,  in  faithfulness  to  the 
general  interests  of  the  school,  to  remove  a  contu- 
macious and  persistently  disobedient  scholar.  One 
such  act  of  exclusion,  if  rightly  performed,  without 
heat  and  after  full  deliberation,  will  so  improve  the 
tone  of  a  school  as  to  induce  others  to  attend.  One 
expulsion  sometimes  brings  in  ten  new  scholars. 
Children  love  an  orderly  school.  It  drav/s  them 
with  a  sort  of  fascination.  Even  the  disorderly  and 
the  lawless  like  to  see  order.  It  pleases  their  natural 
sense  of  what  is  beautiful  and  harmonious.  Hence 
it  is  always  easy  to  replenish  the  ranks  of  a  school 
where  order  reigns  supreme.  The  better  the  state 
of  discipline  in  a  school,  and  the  higher  its  general 
tone  in  regard  to  duty  and  order,  the  more  dreadful 
will  the  sentence  of  banishment  seem  to  the  scholars. 
Expulsion  from  a  disorderly  school  is  no  great 
terror  to  the  unruly  scholar.  In  most  cases  he 
would  rather  be  turned  out  than  not.  It  is  part  of 
the  fun. 

Expulsion   is  not  a  thing  which   should  be  done 


92  THE   SUPERINTENDENT. 

publicly,  with  a  pompous  announcement  from  the 
desk  and  an  attempt  at  dramatic  effect.  Such  a 
course  only  gets  up  a  scene  and  makes  a  hero  of  the 
offender.  When  the  superintendent  finds  such  an 
act  of  discipline  necessary,  the  best  way  of  proceed- 
ing is  to  visit  the  scholar  privately  at  his  home,  and 
there,  without  the  presence  and  sympathy  of  his 
companions,  tell  him  that  it  has  been  found  neces- 
sary to  request  him  to  discontinue  his  attendance. 
Such  an  announcement  will  sometimes  so  work 
upon  the  mind  of  the  culprit  as  to  change  his  whole 
bearing  and  make  it  entirely  proper  to  restore  him 
to  his  position.  Even  w^here  this  does  not  occur,  a 
good  effect  is  produced  upon  the  other  scholars. 
The  cause  of  the  non-appearance  of  the  dismissed 
scholar  is  sure  to  leak  out.  Some  who  are  deter- 
mined at  all  hazards  to  be  disorderly  will  quietly 
withdraw,  and  the  others  will  be  penetrated  with  a 
wholesome  and  restraining  fear.  The  writer,  in  the 
course  of  a  large  experience  in  Sunday-schools,  both 
as  a  teacher  and  a  superintendent,  has  been  obliged 
once,  and  only  once,  to  proceed  to  this  last  resort. 
The  effect  in  that  case  was  happy  in  the  extreme. 
It  settled  at  once  and  for  ever  the  question  of  author- 
ity in  the  minds  of  the  scholars,  and  enabled  both 
him  and  his  teachers  to  use  with  proper  effect  the 
genial  influences  of  love  and  kindness.  It  sobered 
finally  even  the  boy  himself;  not  at  once,  for  he  con- 
tinued for  some  months  rebellious  and  defiant ;  but 
in  the  end  he  came  seriously  to  reflect  upon  his  evil 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT.  93 

course,  and  he  then  re-entered  the  school  "  clothed 
and  in  his  right  mind." 

12.  Maki7tg  a  Programme. 

One  of  the  most  important  and  responsible  duties 
of  the  superintendent  is  that  of  making  a  programme. 
No  one  of  his  duties  requires  the  exercise  of  a  sound- 
er judgment,  no  one  affects  a  greater  number  of  in- 
terests of  the  school.  The  making  of  the  programme 
is  only  another  word  for  disposing  of  the  entire  time 
of  every  scholar  and  every  teacher  during  the  whole 
session,  and  that  not  for  one  Sunday  merely,  but  for 
a  whole  season,  or  as  long  as  the  programme  con- 
tinues in  effect.  Any  error  in  judgment,  therefore, 
in  making  a  programme  is  far-reaching  in  its  conse-- 
quences.  On  the  other  hand,  however,  almost  any 
kind  of  programme  is  better  than  none.  Those  su- 
perintendents who  conduct  the  exercises  of  a  school 
in  a  loose,  unpremeditated  way,  without  any  settled 
order  of  business,  have  no  idea  what  a  waste  of  time 
and  of  moral  force  is  involved  in  their  hap-hazard 
proceedings.  This  is  particularly  the  case  with 
"talking"  superintendents.  Half  the  time  of  the 
school  is  wasted  by  their  unpremeditated  and  profit- 
less harangues. 

The  programme  should  be  reduced  to  writing,  and 
a  copy  of  it  should  be  posted  in  some  conspicuous 
place  where  every  teacher  and  officer  of  the  school 
can  consult  it.  If  the  school  is  a  large  one,  it  is  well 
to  have  the  programme  printed,  so  that  every  teacher 


94  '/'///i  •swA/r'/A/y/i/v/yA//'/'. 

may  liavc  ;i  c:oj)y.  'i'ho  pro^^rjirnrric  in  to  the  school 
wlint.  l}i';  fimc-tablc  of  a  railroafl  in  to  a  train, 
aixl  t})c  hiipcrintcrKlcnt,  like  tf)C  engineer,  sliould 
move  exactly  on  time.  'J'l»e  efficiency  and  comfort 
of  all  Ijih  f'ellow-laborerH  depend  upon  liis  conform- 
ing strictly  to  IjIh  own  order«.  Tfie  teacherH,  lif>ra- 
rians,  Kccretary,  anrl  others  make  their  calculations 
iifi  to  the  time  for  comj>leting  their  work,  and  the 
huperintendent  han  no  right  to  break  in  upon  the  net- 
tled orrler  of  bu.sineHH  for  the  purpose  of  indulging 
in  any  Hudden  fancy  or  caprice.  JCxtreme  casen  may 
arise,  of  course,  in  whicli  the  superintendent  is  justi- 
fied in  interrupting  the  regular  business  of  the  school. 
But  in  all  ordinary  cases  the  programme,  once  set- 
tled, shotjld  be  snj:>retr)e,  and  the  superintendent 
should  not,  dr^viatc  f)o;n  it  for  even  a  single  rninute. 

I  fow  shall  the  time  of  the  school  session  l^e  divided? 
What  portiorj  shall  be  assigned  to  each  exercise? 

Nothing  so  surely  tests  one's  idea  of  what  the 
school  is  as  this  apportionment  of  its  time.  The 
"talking"  superintendent  will  naturally  make  ample 
provision  for  his  harangues.  The  *' singing"  super- 
intendent will  ]>e  equally  liberal  to  the  music.  The 
writer  of  the  present  paragraph  confesses  to  a  feel- 
ing of  jealousy  for  the  riglits  of  the  teacher.  Let  us 
remember  that  the  institution  is  not  a  prayer-meeting 
or  a  debating  society,  but  a  school,  and  its  principal 
function  is  that  of  teaching.  ^I'lie  time  to  ])C  assigned 
to  the  teacher,  therefoie,  is  the  first  and  main  con- 
sideration,   and    it    shoiihJ    Ix;    religiously   guarded. 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT.  95 

Some  time  must  be  allowed  of  course  for  other 
tilings,  but  let  not  the  teacher's  time  be  sacrificed  to 
those  things  which  at  the  best  are  only  auxiliary. 

But  to  come  to  a  practical  point :  What  propor- 
tion of  the  whole  time  of  the  session  should  be  given 
up  to  tlie  exclusive  possession  of  the  teacher?  I 
answer  :  If  the  session  is  for  an  hour  and  a  half,  give 
the  teacher  about  an  hour ;  if  the  session  is  only  an 
hour,  give  the  teacher  about  three-fourths  of  it.  In 
other  words,  give  to  the  teacher  from  two-thirds  to 
three-fourths  of  the  whole  time,  according  to  the 
length  of  the  session.  When  the  sessions  are  of  the 
length  usual  in  most  of  our  schools,  that  is,  an  hour 
and  a  half,  we  can  afford  to  be  comparatively  liberal 
toward  the  various  incidental  operations.  But  where 
the  entire  session  is  crowded  into  one  hour,  as  it 
sometimes  is,  the  superintendent  must  be  sparing  to 
the  extent  of  meanness  toward  everything  except  the 
actual  teaching  time. 

Next  to  the  teaching  time — next,  I  mean,  in 
amount — is  that  which  should  be  allowed  for  devo- 
tional exercises.  A  safe  rule  here  is  to  divide  into 
two  nearly  equal  parts  the  time  that  remains  after 
providing  for  the  teaching,  and  to  give  one  of  these 
parts  to  the  devotional  exercises  and  the  other  part 
to  all  other  operations. 

Under  devotional  exercises  I  include:  i.  The 
reading  or  reciting  of  portions  of  Scripture  and  per- 
haps also  of  some  formula  of  doctrine,  such  as  the 
Apostles'   Creed  ;    2.  Singing ;    3.  Prayer.      These 


96  THE  SUPERINTENDENT. 

devotional  exercises  should  be  all  together,  either  at 
the  opening  or  at  the  closing  of  the  school,  and  not 
divided,  as  they  sometimes  are,  part  at  the  beginning 
and  part  at  the  end.  My  own  preference  is  to  have 
the  devotions  at  the  opening.  There  is  no  need,  as 
there  is  no  time,  for  two  prayers,  one  at  the  opening 
and  one  at  the  close,  or  for  two  singings.  The 
scholars  and  teachers  come  together,  not  for  a  sing- 
ing-school, not  for  a  prayer-meeting,  but  to  study 
God's  word.  All  the  singing,  the  praying,  the  pub- 
lic reading  or  recitation  of  Scripture  should  be  closely 
knit  together  as  one  compacted,  impressive  act  of 
solemn  worship,  by  way  of  special  preparation  foi 
the  main  work  of  the  hour.  This  devotional  exer- 
cise should  in  no  case  exceed  fifteen  minutes.  It 
may  include  sufficient  variety  and  be  brought  within 
ten  minutes.  In  my  own  school  the  service  includes  : 
I.  The  Commandments,  recited  in  concert  by  the 
whole  school ;  2.  Singing  (two  or  three  verses  of  a 
hymn)  ;  3.  The  Apostles'  Creed,  recited  in  concert 
by  the  whole  school ;  4.  The  Gloria  Patri,  sung  by 
the  whole  school ;  5.  The  Scriptures  (twelve  to  fif- 
teen verses),  read  by  the  superintendent;  6.  The 
Lord's  Prayer,  by  the  whole  school ;  7.  Prayer  by 
the  superintendent.  No  part  of  the  service  is  hur- 
ried ;  every  portion  is  conducted  with  seriousness 
and  deliberation  ;  and  yet  the  whole  occupies  just 
twelve  minutes. 

What  time  remains,  after  providing  for  the  teach- 
ing and  the  devotional  service,  belongs  to  the  super- 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT.  97 

intendent  for  addresses,  notices  and  other  general 
business. 

No  time  is  here  allowed  for  assembling.  Scholars 
and  teachers  should  expect  to  assemble  and  to  be  in 
their  places  before  the  time  for  opening.  When  the 
hour  for  opening  has  arrived  the  doors  should  be 
closed  and  locked,  and  remain  so  until  the  devo- 
tional service  is  over.  Any,  whether  scholars,  teach- 
ers, or  visitors,  who  are  late,  sliould  remain  outside 
until  the  doors  are  reopened.  By  following  this 
rule  the  superintendent  is  enabled  to  begin  the  ser- 
vice at  once,  without  the  loss  of  more  than  a  minute. 
Some  superintendents  who  follow  this  plan  pause 
after  closing  the  doors  to  call  the  roll  of  the  teachers. 
But  this  consumes  time,  besides  being  irritating,  and 
the  end  can  be  gained  without  either  of  these  results. 
The  secretary,  without  calling  the  roll,  can  notice 
by  mere  inspection  the  teachers  who  are  present,  and 
the  fact  that  they  are  thus  noticed  and  registered 
will  have  all  the  effect  desired. 

No  time  is  allowed  for  the  work  of  the  librarian. 
All  his  work  can  be  done  without  consuming  the 
time  of  the  school,  as  I  shall  show  farther  on. 

No  time  is  allowed  for  missionary  collections. 
The  collection  should  be  made  in  each  class  by  the 
teacher  and  enclosed  in  an  envelope,  with  the 
amount  and  the  name  of  the  class  on  the  outside, 
according  to  a  form  prescribed  by  the  superintend- 
ent, so  that  all  the  secretary  would  have  to  do  would 
be  to  go  round  and  collect  the  envelopes,  without 
9  G 


98  THE   SUPERINTENDENT, 

interrupting  any  one,  and  without  consuming  any 
of  the  time  of  the  school. 

No  time  is  allowed  for  notices.  These  the  super- 
intendent must  give  in  the  time  assigned  him  for  ad- 
dressing the  school. 

Five  minutes  should  be  allowed  for  dismission, 
and  this  will  have  to  be  secured  by  abridging  to  that 
extent  the  hour  or  the  three-quarters  of  an  hour  ap- 
propriated to  teaching. 

With  these  data  before  us,  let  me  construct  two 
imaginary  programmes,  one  for  a  school  of  an  hour 
and  a  half,  the  other  for  a  school  of  an  hour : 

First  Programme  (90  minutes). 

Minutes. 

Closing  doors  and  coming  to  a  pause i 

Devotional  service   15 

Change,  and  getting  ready  for  teaching i 

Teaching  the  lesson 55 

Change,  and  getting  ready  for  the  superintendent. . .      i 

Superintendent's  (or  visitor's)  address 10 

Change,  and  getting  ready  for  dismission 2 

Dismission 5 

90 
Second  Progra7n7ne  (60  minutes). 

Minutes. 

Closing  doors  and  pause i 

Devotional  service 8 

Change,  and  getting  ready  for  teaching I 

Teaching  the  lesson 40 

Change,  and  getting  ready  for  the  superintendent. . .      i 

Superintendent's  (or  visitor's)  address 4 

Change,  and  getting  ready  for  dis;nission i 

Dismission 4 

"6^ 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT.  99 

The  signal  for  closing  doors,  for  change,  and  for 
dismission  should  be  a  single  tap  of  the  bell,  and  the 
bell  should  be  used  ordinarily  for  no  other  purpose. 

13.    Opening  School  Punctually. 

Open  exactly  at  the  time  agreed  upon.  Not  fifteen 
minutes  after  the  time,  not  ten  minutes  after,  nor  five 
minutes,  nor  three  minutes,  nor  one  minute,  but  exactly 
at  the  moment.  If  there  are  not  half  a  dozen  persons 
in  the  room  besides  yourself,  still  begin.  If  even  you 
are  as  badly  ofi'  as  Dean  Swift  once  was,  when,  ac- 
cording to  the  tradition,  he  had  no  one  present  but 
the  clerk,  begin.  You  need  not  make  a  joke  of  it, 
as  he  did,  saying,  "  Dearly  beloved  Roger,  the 
Scripture  moveth  you  and  me  in  sundry  places." 
But  if  you  have  even  "  two  or  three"  present,  you 
have  a  quorum  according  to  the  Scripture  rule 
(Matt,  xviii.  19,  20).  Waiting  a  few  minutes  for 
stragglers  to  come  in  is  only  an  inducement  to  strag- 
glers to  continue  in  their  bad  habits.  It  is,  more- 
over, a  wrong  done  to  those  who  come  early  and 
who  want  to  use  all  their  time.  If  your  school 
begins  professedly  at  nine,  and  it  gets  to  be  under- 
stood that  you  begin  your  services  in  all  cases 
exactly  at  the  stroke  of  the  clock,  you  will  have  just 
as  many  present  then  as  you  would  have  a  quarter 
of  an  hour  later,  if  it  is  found  that  you  usually  wait 
a  quarter  of  an  hour  for  laggards  to  come  in.  There 
is  a  certain  percentage  of  every  school  or  congrega- 
tion who  mav  be  relied  on  as  comins  in  late  under 


roo  THE   SUPERINTENDENT, 

all  circumstances.  You  will  not  diminish  that  per- 
centage by.  habitually  waiting.  On  the  contrary,  by 
the  degree  of  uncertainty  produced  you  will  increase 
it.  No  opening  services  are  so  little  disturbed  by 
laggardism  as  those  which  are  known  to  begin  ex- 
actly at  the  moment  agreed  upon. 

14.    Preparation  for  the   Opening  Service. 

.  Know  beforehand  fully  and  exactly  what  you 
are  going  to  do  at  the  opening.  The  superin- 
tendent has  no  right  to  waste  the  precious  time 
of  scholars  and  teachers  by  his  extemporaneous 
fumbling.  When  he  rings  his  bell  it  should  be 
a  signal  not  only  for  undivided  attention  on  the 
part  of  the  school,  but  for  uninterrupted,  connected 
service  on  his  part.  It  is  no  time  then  for  him 
to  stop  and  hunt  up  a  hymn,  or  to  turn  over  the 
leaves  of  the  Bible  backward  and  forward  in  search 
of  a  suitable  passage  to  read,  or  to  consult  with  his 
fellow- teachers  about  any  measures  to  be  adopted 
in  the  school.  Then  is  the  moment  of  execution, 
not  of  study  or  deliberation.  Whatever  is  to  be 
then  done  ought  to  be  determined  on  beforehand, 
even  as  to  the  minutest  particulars.  The  superin- 
tendent, quite  as  much  as  the  teacher,  needs  to  make 
preparation  for  his  work,  and  to  make  special  pre- 
paration for  every  session  of  his  school.  He  should 
select  his  hymn  beforehand,  and  determine  precisely 
whether  he  will  sing  all  of  it  or  only  a  part,  and  if  a 
part,  which  part.     He  should  in  like  manner  select 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT.  lOI 

beforehand  the  passage  of  Scripture,  and  determuie 
exactly  the  number  of  verses  to  be  read.  If  there 
are  notices  to  be  given  he  should  make  a  written 
memorandum  of  them,  and  determine  in  what  part 
of  the  service  the  notices  shall  come  in.  When  a 
superintendent  is  thus  prepared,  even  to  minute  de- 
tails, for  the  opening  service  of  the  school,  he  not 
only  discharges  the  duty  more  effectively,  but  he  gets 
through  in  half  the  time. 

15.     Giving  out  Notices  i^i  School. 

I  have  spoken  of  notices.  There  is  nothing  in 
regard  to  which  the  conductors  of'  public  services, 
whether  superintendents  or  others,  make  more  griev- 
ous mistakes.  Nothing  in  the  management  of  any 
kind  of  public  audience  needs  more  care  than  giving 
a  notice.  Yet  very  many  blurt  out  a  notice  without 
any  premeditation,  just  as  the  thought  comes  into 
their  mind,  without  reference  to  the  time  when  it  is 
given  or  the  words  in  which  it  is  expressed.  Not 
only  are  the  proprieties  of  the  most  solemn  parts  of 
public  worship  outraged  by  such  a  proceeding,  but 
the  object  of  the  notice  itself  is  totally  lost  when 
thrust  thus  unexpectedly  upon  the  attention. 

If  you  wish  to  give  a  school  a  notice  on  any  point, 
and  to  have  them  remember  it,  you  must  first  call 
deliberate  attention  to  it.  So  far  as  practicable,  have 
a  certain  time  in  the  order  of  exercises  when  notices, 
if  any,  are  to  be  given.  It  is  well  even  to  say  in 
form,  "  I  am  about  to  give  a  notice  and  I  wish  your 
9» 


I02  THE  SUPERINTENDENT. 

attention,"  and  then  wait  till  every  eye  in  the  room 
is  fixed  upon  you. 

Do  not  ordinarily  repeat  a  notice.  When  the 
children  understand  that  it  is  your  habit  to  do  so, 
they  only  learn  thereby  not  to  listen  to  you  the  first 
time  you  say  it,  expecting  you,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
to  say  it  over  again.  If  you  do  repeat  a  notice, 
alv^ays  give  it  in  exactly  the  same  words  the  second 
time  as  the  first  time.  A  variation  of  the  form  of 
words,  instead  of  deepening  the  impression,  only 
confuses.  It  is  always  safer  to  reduce  your  notice 
to  writing.  Those  who  are  not  in  the  habit  of  doing 
so  are  not  aware  how  much  uncertainty  and  vague- 
ness there  is  in  their  notices  as  usually  given. 

As  to  the  time  for  giving  notices,  there  are  two 
points  in  the  school  session  when  they  are  opportune, 
namely,  one  at  the  opening  exercises,  the  other  at 
the  closing,  and  in  both  cases  the  notices  should  be 
despatched  and  off  the  mind  of  the  superintendent 
and  of  the  school  before  entering  upon  the  devotional 
part  of  the  service.  They  should  never  be  thrust  in 
between  the  singing  and  the  reading,  or  between  the 
reading  and  the  prayer,  nor  is  it  well  to  tack  them 
on  after  the  prayer,  thereby  dissipating  whatever  of 
devout  feeling  may  have  been  awakened  by  that 
exercise. 

It  may  seem  trifling  to  dwell  so  long  upon  these 
little  things.  But  it  is  by  attention  to  these  little 
things  that  the  superintendent  saves  the  time  of  the 
school  for  greater  things. 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT.  103 

16.    Giving  Old  the  Hymn. 

The  rarest  gift  among  public  men  is  tliat  of  read- 
ing well.  Superintendents  are  no  exception.  On 
the  contrary,  it  is  most  painful  to  listen  to  hymns  as 
they  are  usually  read  from  the  superintendent's  desk. 
It  is  a  great  misfortune  that  it  is  so.  Good  reading 
would  add  wonderfully  to  the  effectiveness  of  this 
part  of  the  service.  How  the  style  of  reading  is  to 
be  improved  it  is  not  easy  to  say.  But,  in  addition 
to  bad  elocution,  there  are  some  glaring  faults  of  man- 
ner which  any  superintendent  may  avoid. 

I.  Waiting  for  the  Scholars  to  Fiitd  the  Place. 
In  the  first  place,  when  a  hymn  is  announced  as 
about  to  be  read,  immediately  after  the  announce- 
ment there  should  be  a  pause.  The  superintendent 
should  wait  a  moment  for  teachers  and  scholars  to 
find  the  place,  should  look  round  the  room  to  see 
that  they  are  doing  so,  and  should  not  begin  to  read 
until  he  sees  every  one  in  the  room  ready  to  follow 
him.  Some  of  my  readers,  I  dare  say,  will  smile  at 
my  giving  so  simple  a  suggestion.  You  will  think, 
perhaps,  that  no  one  could  be  so  ignorant  as  not  to 
know  this  ;  or  perhaps  you  may  think  it  trifling  to 
make  so  small  a  matter  a  subject  of  grave  comment. 
I  can  only  say  my  experience  differs  from  yours. 
Nothing  is  more  common  than  to  see  the  leader  of  a 
meeting  give  out  a  hymn  and  begin  at  once  tc  read 
it.  If  any  one  in  such  circumstances  will  watch  the 
operation,  he  will  see  the  majority  of  the  audience 


I04  THE  SUPERINTENDENT. 

occupied  with  hunting  up  the  hymn,  rustling  the 
leaves  of  their  books,  asking  the  place  of  some  one 
of  their  neighbors,  or  otherwise  diverting  attention 
during  at  least  one-half  the  reading.  Indeed,  all 
that  the  auditors  aim  at  in  such  cases  is  to  be  sure  to 
get  the  place  by  the  time  the  reading  is  over.  In 
the  case  of  children  at  school,  it  is  still  worse.  If 
the  superintendent  rushes  on  with  the  reading  of  the 
hymn  immediately  after  announcing  it,  it  is  practi- 
cally telling  the  scholars  that  they  are  not  expected 
to  hunt  it  up,  at  least  not  then.  The  majority  of 
them  consequently  will  busy  themselves  with  their 
library  books  or  in  talking  until  the  hymn  has  been 
read  through,  and  will  then  for  the  first  time  begin 
to  look  for  it.  They  do  not  seem  to  think  that  they 
have  anything  to  do  with  the  superintendent's  read- 
ing of  it. 

2.  Care  in  Announcing  the  Place,  There  should 
be  some  care  in  making  the  announcement  of  the 
hymn.  It  should  be  done  in  a  clear,  deliberate  man- 
ner, and  loud  enough  for  every  one  to  hear.  The 
superintendent  generally  will  unconsciously  announce 
the  hymn  in  this  way  when  he  really  expects  and  re- 
quires all  the  scholars  at  once  to  find  the  place,  and 
waits  till  they  do  find  it. 

In  making  the  announcement,  he  should  be  care- 
ful also  to  make  no  mistake  in  the  number  of  the 
hymn.  I  once  had  an  experience  of  this  kind.  A 
superintendent,  who  was  a  man  of  decided  abilities, 
but  who  w^as  negligent  of  these  little   matters,   in- 


THE  SUPERINTENDENT.  105 

tended  to  give  out  the  379th  hymn.  He  announced 
the  number  and  commenced  at  once  the  reading. 
Whether  through  not  seeing  clearly,  or  more  likely 
in  consequence  of  having  his  mind  just  at  that  mo- 
ment mainly  upon  the  hymn  and  not  upon  its  num- 
ber, he  called  it  the  375th.  I  watched  the  effect. 
One  person  in  front  of  me,  finding  there  was  some 
mistake,  and  happening  to  catch  the  first  line,  turned 
over  to  the  index,  and  so  was  able,  before  the  hymn 
was  more  than  half  through,  to  find  it.  Another  not 
far  oft',  finding  that  it  was  not  the  375th,  turned  to  the 
365th,  then  to  the  385th,  then  to  the  395th,  and  then 
began  to  look  round  the  room  only  to  see  others  in 
a  like  bewilderment.  Another  person  behind  me, 
after  trying  the  365th  and  the  385th,  concluded  his 
ear  had  misled  him  as  to  \}i\&  Jirst  figure,  and  so  he 
industriously  hunted  up  the  275th,  and  then  the  475th, 
and  so  on.  There  was  not  one  in  ten  anywhere  in 
sight  that  succeeded  in  finding  the  place.  All  sat 
perplexed,  waiting  for  the  superintendent  to  get 
through,  hoping  to  catch  either  the  first  line  or  the 
number  when  they  should  be  announced  a  second 
time.  By  a  little  extra  carelessness,  the  superintend- 
ent, after  finishing  the  reading,  announced  the  hymn 
to  be  not  the  379th,  but  the  397th.  But  as  he  luck- 
ily read  the  first  line  over  again,  the  majority  of  the 
audience  succeeded  at  length  in  the  object  of  their 
search.  I  repeat,  then,  my  remark:  Let  the  super- 
intendent in  announcing  his  hymn  be  careful  to  make 
no  mistake  as  to  the  number.     Be  careful  also  to  call 


io6  THE  SUPERINTENDENT. 

out  each  several  figure  of  the  number  distinctly. 
You  can  tell  infallibly,  if  you  will  only  look  at  the 
children,  whether  you  have  been  rightly  heard  or 
not. 

3.  Grainmatical  Blunders.  In  giving  out  a 
hymn,  some  little  grammatical  blunders  are  often 
made  which  cause  perplexity.  Thus,  the  superin- 
tendent says,  "  Sing  the  first  and  last  two  verses." 
Does  this  mean  three  verses  or  four  }  If  the  former, 
he  should  have  said,  "  the  first  verse  and  the  last 
two."  If  the  latter,  the  phrase  should  be,  "  the  first 
two  verses  and  the  last  two."  There  then  would  be 
no  possibility  of  mistaking  the  meaning.  I  have 
heard  a  superintendent  make  the  announcement  thus  : 
"Omit  the  3d  and  4th  verses  of  the  125th  hymn," 
instead  of  saying,  "Sing  the  125th  hymn,  omitting 
the  3d  and  4th  verses."  This  perhaps  would  lead 
no  one  astray,  as  we  may  naturally  infer  that  the 
hymn  is  to  be  sung.  But  the  expression  is  awkward. 
It  tends  to  distract  the  mind. 

4.  Reading  yust  what  is  to  be  Sung.  In  read- 
ing the  hymn,  it  is  best  to  read  just  those  verses,  and 
those  only,  which  are  to  be  sung.  Omit  in  reading 
those  that  are  to  be  omitted  in  singing.  Do  every 
minute  thing,  in  short,  that  will  have  any  tendency 
to  prevent  distraction  of  mind. 

5.  Giving  the  Key-note.  Besides  the  musical 
tune,  there  is  in  every  hymn  that  is  worth  singing  at 
all  a  moral  tune^  which  the  superintendent  should 
endeavor  to  catch  and  give.     This,  I  suppose,  is  the 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT.  107 

real  object  in  reading  the  hymn  before  singing.  If 
the  hymn  expresses  joy,  or  penitence,  or  faith,  or 
hope — whatever  emotion  each  particular  verse  is  in- 
tended to  convey — let  the  superintendent  try  to  catch 
the  very  soul  of  it,  and  give  utterance  to  it  in  his 
reading  voice.  It  is  the  best  possible  preparation 
and  guide  for  the  expression  of  the  same  thought  or 
emotion  afterward  by  the  singing  voice.  The  read- 
ing of  the  hymn  should  never  be  a  mere  idle  and 
unmeaning  form.  It  may  be  a  source  of  as  much 
pleasure  and  profit  to  the  school  as  the  singing  of 
it  is. 

6.  Looking  while  Reading.  In  reading  a  hymn 
or  a  passage  of  Scripture  the  superintendent  should 
give  the  school  the  full  benefit  of  his  eyes.  There  is 
something  contagious  in  a  look.  Get  your  children 
as  much  as  possible  to  look  you  in  the  eye,  and  let 
your  eyes  ever  rest  calmly  and  pleasantly  on  theirs. 
Say  not  that  you  cannot  do  this  while  reading.  Tou 
must  do  it.  You  should  not  undertake  to  read  a 
passage  that  you  are  not  entirely  familiar  with.  By 
following  the  passage  with  your  finger  as  you  read, 
so  that  when  your  eye  returns  to  the  book  it  will 
know  exactly  where  to  fall,  you  will  only  have  to 
look  at  the  page  occasionally,  just  to  take  a  fresh 
start  every  second  or  third  line.  By  this  means 
your  eyes  will  be  almost  as  free  while  reading  as 
while  speaking  extemporaneously.  A  good  reader, 
by  means  of  his  eyes  and  his  looks,  keeps  himself 
just  as  fully  in  communication  with  his  audience  as 


lo8  THE   SUPERINTENDENT. 

if  he  was  speaking  to  them.  The  superintendent  or 
the  leader  of  a  meeting  of  any  kind  who  has  not 
learned  the  knack  of  this  should  learn  it  without 
delay.  He  loses  half  his  power  with  his  audience 
by  the  want  of  it.  The  superintendent  has  never 
really  read  a  hymn  to  his  school  unless,  while  giving 
it  utterance  with  his  voice,  he  has  seen  the  scholars* 
eyes  catching  fire  from  his  eyes,  and  has  felt  his  own 
soul  simultaneously  taking  new  warmth  from  the 
reflection  of  theirs.  It  is  this  quick,  warm  inter- 
change of  soul  by  voice  and  look,  and  not  the  trap- 
pings of  office,  that  gives  the  superintendent  any 
real  power  among  his  children.  In  so  small  a  mat- 
ter as  the  mere  reading  of  the  opening  hymn,  the 
superintendent  may  put  forth  a  power  and  influence 
that  shall  imperceptibly  permeate  and  leaven  the 
exercises  of  the  school  for  the  entire  session.  He 
gives  therein  the  key-note  to  the  whole  service. 

17.  Reading  the  Scriptures. 

No  writings,  if  well  read,  are  so  impressive,  none 
are  so  capable  of  high  elocutionary  effect,  as  the 
Holy  Scriptures.  Yet  of  all  books  that  are  publicly 
read  for  the  edification  of  the  people,  none  ordinarily 
is  read  so  badly  as  the  Bible.  It  is  not  merely  that 
public  readers  fail  to  give  to  the  words  the  fulness 
of  power  and  beauty  that  is  in  them.  It  is  not 
merely  that  the  reading  lacks  rhetorical  elegance  and 
finish,  and  that  Holy  Writ  as  uttered  by  such  per- 
sons ceases  to  charm  and  captivate.     The  bare  mean- 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT.  109 

ing  even  is  not  rendered.  The  Scriptures  are  often 
read  as  one  would  read  a  formula  in  an  unknown 
tongue,  whose  alphabet  and  pronunciation  he  had 
mastered,  but  without  having  the  slightest  idea  of 
what  the  words  meant,  or  whether  they  had  any 
meaning.  They  are  often  read  with  an  entire  per- 
version of  the  meaning. 

It  is  no  part  of  my  present  purpose  to  lay  down 
rules  for  reading.  Yet  I  do  wish  to  say  to  superin- 
tendents, and  to  all  who  are  required  to  lead  the  de- 
votions of  others.  Give  earnest  heed  to  this  matter. 
You  may  never  learn  to  give  to  the  Scriptures  the 
melting  power  which  they  had  when  coming  from 
the  lips  of  Dr.  2vIason  or  Elizabeth  Fry.  Yqu  mav 
not  have  the  natural  gifts  of  voice  and  intellect,  or 
the  opportunities  of  culture,  which  those  eminent 
persons  had.  But  there  is  a  certain  degree  of  excel- 
lence which  you  may  attain.  There  are  certain 
faults  of  manner  which  3'ou  may  avoid,  and  which 
you  surely  will  avoid  if  you  desire  earnestly  and 
truly  to  give  effectiveness  to  this  part  of  your  public 
duties. 

Avoid  Pormalism.  It  is  unpardonable  to  read 
the  passages  of  Scripture  with  whicli  you  open 
school  in  such  a  way  as  to  give  the  children  the  idea 
that  it  is  a  mere  form,  something  which  is  to  be  gone 
through  with,  but  in  which  they  have  no  interest. 
Children  are  quick  reasoners,  and  do  not  often  mis- 
take in  such  matters.  If  they  get  the  idea  in  any 
instance  that  the  superintendent  is  reading  a  passage 
10 


no  THE  SUPERINTENDENT, 

in  the  Bible  merely  because  such  reading  is  in  the 
programme,  a  part  of  the  customary  routine,  and 
that  it  has  no  meaning  or  relevancy  to  them,  the 
chances  are  that  they  are  right  in  their  impressions 
of  the  case.  The  superintendent  will  find,  if  he  will 
go  to  the  bottom  of  his  own  mind,  that  in  his  inmost 
thoughts  this  reading  is  really  not  a  living  process 
of  his  soul,  as  it  is  when  he  is  talking  his  own 
thoughts  to  the  children.  He  is  doing  exactly  what 
the  children  suppose.  He  is  going  through  a  mere 
form. 

Be  in  Earnest.  Now  it  is  not  in  rules  to  correct 
the  evil  of  formalism,  of  which  I  have  been  speak- 
ing. The  only  remedy  is  for  the  man  to  realize 
better  what  it  is  that  he  is  about.  He  must  in  some 
way  learn  to  feel  that  it  is  really  a  serious  thing  to 
read  to  others  the  words  of  the  great  God.  Reading 
louder  or  lower,  slower  or  faster,  putting  an  empha- 
sis on  this  word  or  on  that,  affected  starts  and  grim- 
aces, measured  cadences  and  solemn  cant, — none  of 
these  things  reach  the  case.  What  is  wanted,  the 
indispensable  requisite,  in  order  that  the  reading 
shall  take  hold  of  the  audience,  is  reality,  life.  It 
must  first  take  hold  of  yourself.  The  moment  you 
really  feel  that  you  are  reading  the  words  of  God, 
that  you  are  communicating  to  your  hearers  a  mes- 
sage from  heaven,  your  feeling  will  infect  them. 
Just  in  proportion  as  you  feel  they  will  feel.  They 
will  catch  the  tone  instantly.  Nothing  is  half  so 
contagious.     If  a  man  is  in  earnest,  whether  he  is 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT.  Ill 

reading  or  speaking,  his  hearers  become  earnest.     It 
is  a  law  of  human  nature. 

Study  the  Passage.  Study  beforehand  the  pas- 
sage which  you  intend  to  read  at  the  opening.  It  is 
no  easy  matter  to  find  out  exactly  what  is  meant, 
and  all  that  is  meant,  by  the  written  words  of  an- 
other. We  are  accustomed  in  every-day  intercourse 
to  leave  a  great  deal  of  our  meaning  to  be  expressed 
and  supplemented  by  the  tone  of  the  voice  and  by 
significant  gestures  and  looks.  When  only  the 
voiceless,  inanimate  words  are  before  us,  it  requires 
for  their  full  comprehension  not  merely  practiced 
skill  in  verbal  and  grammatical  analysis,  but  often 
much  historical  knowledge,  and  always  a  vigorous 
imagination,  to  bring  the  original  circumstances 
fully  and  vividly  before  the  mind.  In  the  passage, 
John  XX.  i6,  for  instance,  when  Jesus  turns  and  savs 
"Mary  !"  it  is  evidently  in  that  voice  of  familiar  ten- 
derness which  says,  by  its  very  tone,  "  Do  you  not 
know  me.^"  Mary's  "  Rabboni !"  is  in  like  manner 
an  expression  of  surprised,  joyful  recognition.  A 
mere  study  of  the  words  does  not  bring  out  the 
meaning.  Imagination  must  work.  The  scene 
must  stand  clearly  out  before  the  mind's  eye.  Then 
only  will  the  voice  do  its  office  as  a  true  interpreter 
of  this  most  beautiful  passage.  Who  that  ever  heard 
that  almost  despairing  wail  with  which  the  venerable 
Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  used  to  utter  the  cry,  "Eloi, 
eloi,  lama  sabacthani !"  but  felt  that  he  had  received 
a  new  revelation  of  the  meaning  of  that  mysterious 


112  THE  SUPERINTENDENT. 

utterance?  It  was  not  that  Dr.  Alexander  under- 
stood Hebrew  better  than  thousands  of  others  have 
done.  It  was  because  he  had  meditated  upon  the 
subject  until  he  had  the  whole  dreadful  scene  fully 
before  him. 

Aleditate  on  It.  Meditation  implies  something 
more  than  study.  Begin,  of  course,  by  studying  the 
subject  caref«lly.  Find  out  by  studious  examination 
and  reflection  the  exact  meaning  of  the  passage 
and  of  each  particular  word  in  it.  Then  ponder 
it,  until  your  mind  has  become  fully  possessed  with 
the  ideas  and  thoughts  which  it  contains.  Dwell 
upon  it.  Turn  it  over  and  over  on  the  previous  days 
of  the  week,  as  you  would  any  grave  and  weighty 
message  that  you  were  preparing  to  deliver  on  some 
important  occasion.  Take  as  much  pains  and  time 
in  preparing  yourself  to  read  a  passage  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  school  as  a  faithful  teacher  would  take  in 
preparing  to  teach  it.  Get  your  thoughts  filled  with 
the  very  things  themselves  which  are  spoken  of,  so 
that  when  you  read  you  hardly  think  of  the  words — 
so  that,  m  fact,  you  seem  to  yourself  not  to  be  read- 
ing the  words,  but  only  the  meaning  which  lies  be- 
neath them.  It  is  as  when  one  looks  through  a 
window  at  objects  in  the  street.  The  glass  is  only 
the  medium  through  which,  and  unconscious  of  it, 
he  sees  something  beyond.  So  by  long  dwelling 
upon  a  passage  you  learn  gradually  to  forget  the 
words  in  thinking  of  the  meaning  which  they  convey. 
You  look  with  your  mind's  eye  through  the  words, 


THE  SUPERINTENDENT.  113 

« 

and,  forgetful  of  them,  see  only  the  real  objects  which 

lie  beyond. 

When  you  rise  at  your  desk  to  read  to  the  school, 
with  your  own  mind  thus 'prepared,  you  need  not 
fear  that  the  exercise  will  be  a  dull  and  formal  one, 
either  to  you  or  to  those  who  hear  you.  The  prime 
difficulty  with  superintendents-,  and  with  others 
similarly  situated,  is  that  they  have  no  adequate  con- 
ception of  the  importance  and  value  of  the  exercise, 
and  they  make  no  adequate  preparation  for  it. 

Reading  to  One's  Self.  A  member  of  Congress 
once  made  an  attack  uj3on_  John  Randolph.  It  was 
a  long,  dull  speech,  to  which  no  one  apparently 
listened  but  the  man  himself  who  made  it.  Ran- 
dolph began  his  reply  as  follows:  "Mr.  Speaker, 
while  the  gentleman  was  talking  I  was  thinking  of 
the  first  less6n  in  our  old  school-book,  Corderius. 
'  ^uid  agis  ?  What  are  you  doing .?  Rcpeto  mecum^ 
I  am  repeating  to  myself!'"  It  is  exactly  the  case 
of  many  who  read  the  Scriptures  publicly.  They 
stand  up  indeed  in  presence  of  others,  but  they  are 
really  reading  to  themselves.  There  is  no  communi- 
cation of  thought  and  feeling  going  on  between 
them  and  the  listeners.  There  is  no  interchange  of 
looks.  There  is  no  play  of  sympathy  back  and 
forth.  If  the  reader  would  not  have  the  feeling  that 
he  is  reading  to  himself,  if  he  would  not  give  the 
same  impression  to  those  who  are  listening,  he  must 
not  confine  his  eyes  to  the  book.  He  must  learn  to 
read,  and  at  the  same  time  to  look  his  hearers  in  the 
10*  H 


114  THE   SUPERINTENDENT. 

eyes.  Take  the  word  of  an  old  hand  at  the  busi- 
ness. You  will  never  feel  any  ease  or  comfort  in 
this  part  of  your  duty,  you  will  never  perform  it 
acceptably  or  profitably' to  others,  until  you  get  the 
knack  of  looking  at  the  people  that  you  are  read- 
ing to. 

Number  of  Verses.  How  many  verses  should  be 
read  at  the  opening  of  the  school  ?  The  common  error 
here  is  that  of  reading  too  long  a  passage.  Rarely 
read  a  whole  chapter.  From  twelve  to  fifteen  verses 
is  about  the  length.  When  the  school,  or  a  consid- 
erable portion  of  it,  has  a  common  lesson,  it  is  often 
a  good  plan  to  read  at  the  opening  the  verses  which 
constitute  the  lesson.  Where  this  is  not  done,  but 
the  superintendent  selects  a  passage,  take  something 
which  is  complete  in  itself,  a  single  parable,  or  the 
narrative  of  one  particular  event,  something  which 
will  make  an  impression  as  a  whole,  and  which  will 
not  produce  a  confusion  of  ideas. 

Some  superintendents  require  the  school  to  read 
verse  about.  That  is,  the  superintendent  reads  the 
first  verse,  the  school  reads  the  second,  and  so  on, 
alternating  as  in  the  service  in  the  Episcopal  Church. 

Keeping  the  School  in  your  Eye.  While  the 
scholars  are  thus  reading  alternately,  or  repeating 
after  you,  use  your  eyes  most  diligently.  Let  that 
calm,  quiet  look  of  yours  search  out  every  little  de- 
linquent who,  through  indolence  or  inattention,  fails 
to  add  his  young  voice  to  the  general  volume  of 
sound.     Do  not  distract  the  attention  of  the  others  by 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT,  115 

stopping  then  to  comment  upon  it,  or  by  calling  out 
to  the  delinquent  publicly.  Only  see  him.  If  pos- 
sible, let  him  feel  that  you  see  him.  In  the  course 
of  the  session  you  will  have  an  opportunity  of  re- 
minding him  privately  and  kindly  of  his  duty.  See 
that  the  teachers  respond  as  well  as  the  scholars. 
Not  only  the  example  of  the  teacher  is  important  as 
an  inducement  to  the  scholars,  but  his  voice  is  a 
guide  to  them  and  helps  to  keep  their  voices  to- 
gether. Do  not  urge  the  school  to  respond  loudly. 
What  you  want  is  not  noise,  but  concert.  You 
want  every  voice  to  join  intelligently  in  the  service. 
While  your  own  utterance  is  clear  and  distinct,  yet 
let  there  be  a  certain  degree  of  Tenderness,  a  sub- 
dued solemnity,  in  the  tone  of  your  voice.  The 
children  will  be  very  apt  to  catch  it.  They  are  im- 
itative creatures.  If  you  bluster,  they  will  bluster. 
If  you  are  gentle  and  devout,  they  will  learn  uncon- 
sciously to  be  the  same. 

18.   The   Opening  Prayer. 

I  do  not  propose  to  speak  of  prayer  in  general, 
but  only  of  that  particular  prayer  with  which  a  Sun- 
da)''-school  should  be  opened. 

If  time  and  forethought  are  needed  to  make  the 
service  short,  much  more  are  they  needed  to  make 
it  simple.  The  words  must  be  such  as  children  can 
understand,  the  wants  expressed  must  be  such  as 
children  feel.  Avoid  long  sentences  as  well  as  long 
words.     Let  each  petition,  so  far  as  possible,  be  a 


Il6  THE   SUPERINTENDENT. 

.single  sentence  by  itself.  Beware  of  circumlocu- 
tions and  euphuisms  and  cant  phrases,  such  as  are 
doled  out  unmeaningly  in  ordinary  prayer-meetings. 
Every  school,  every  class,  has  wants  of  its  own — 
special,  specific  wants.  Each  week  brings  new 
wants.  Have  these  fixed  in  your  mind  beforehand, 
so  that  you  know  exactly  what  you  are  going  to  ask 
for  when  you  stand  up  to  pray.  If  the  list  of  wants 
becomes  too  long,  select  those  that  are  most  urgent, 
and  arrange  in  your  own  mind  the  order  in  which 
the  several  petitions  shall  be  presented.  Think 
over  the  terms  to  be  used  in  each  particular  request, 
so  as  not  to  degrade  the  subject  by  using  words  that 
are  trivial  and  vulgar,  and  yet  be  not  so  refined  iand 
dainty  in  expression  that  the  children  do  not  know 
what  you  are  talking  about.  Let  one  or  more  of  the 
petitions  always  be  connected  with  the  sentiments 
contained  in  the  hymn  and  in  the  passage  of  Scrip- 
ture read.  This  knits  together  the  whole  opening 
exercise  and  gives  unity  and  strength  to  the  general 
impression. 

An  Exa77ifle.  Among  the  petitions  which  would 
be  seasonable  in  almost  any  Sunday-school  are  such 
as  the  following : 

'■''Help  us  to  keep  this  Sabbath  day  holy.  May  we  love 
the  dear  Saviotir  more  and  more.  Give  us  7iew  hearts. 
Make  us  tt'ue  Christians.  Help  us  to  remember  our  les- 
sons. Teach  us  the  meaning  of  the  Bible  words.  Teach 
us  how  to  pray.  If  we  live  to  grow  tip,  may  we  become 
good  men  aiid  women.  May  every  child  learn  to  obey  his 
father  and  mother.     May  every  child  be  kind  to  his  broth- 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT.  117 

ers  and  sisters.  Bless  those  children  who  cannot  come  to 
Sunday-school.  Bless  those  children  who  have  no  one  to 
teach  them.  Bless  heathen  children.  Bless  all  Sunday- 
schools.  Bless  that  dear  boy  whose  mother  died  last  week. 
Comfort  his  heart  and  be  very  merciful  to  him.  May  we 
all  learn  to  be  still  and  attentive  during  the  school  hours. 
May  we  always  be  glad  when  Sjinday  conies.  Fill  us 
with  joy  when  we  sing  God's  praises.  We  have  just  su7ig 
that  children  '  around  the  throne  of  God  in  heaven'  praise 
thee;  help  us  too  to  praise  thee  here  upon  earth.  Forgive 
those  who  do  not  learn  their  lessofis.  Forgive  those 
who  swear.  Forgive  those  who  lie.  Forgive  those  who 
play  on  the  Sabbath.  Forgive  those  who  sometimes  stay 
away  from  Sunday-school  atid  run  about  the  streets.  For- 
give those  who  use  bad  words.  Forgive  those  who  get 
angxy  and  fight.  May  we  all  be  sorry  and  learii  to  do 
better.  May  those  two  teachers  who  are  sick  soon  get  well. 
Bless  all  the  teachers.  Bless  our  dear  pastor.  Bless  our 
fathers  and  tnothers.  We  tha?ik  thee  that  Jesus  died 
for  us.  We  tha7ik  thee  for  this  precious  Bible.  We 
thatik  thee  that  so  7nany  of  us  a7'e  able  to  co77ie  to  school 
to-day.  We  tha7ik  thee  that  the  su7i  shines,  and  that  we 
have  such  a  pleasant  day  and  such  a  pieasa7it  scJiool-roo7)T. 
We  thank  thee  that  we  have  clothes  to  wear  a7id  food  to 
eat.  We  tha7ik  thee  that  we  k7iow  how  to  read.  Give 
us  Dtore  knowledge.  Teach  us  how  to  do  good.  Help  us 
to  be  ge7itle  a7id  ki7id.  Keep  us  p'om  bei7ig  C7-oss  and  ill- 
7iatured.  iKeep  us  from  bei7ig  idle.  May  we  be  a  comfort 
to  our  frie7ids.  We  have  just  read  in  the  Bible  that  thou 
carest  for  spa7-rows ;  care  for  21s.  Care  for  our  school. 
May  sofnebody  give  us  77ioney  to  get  a  7iew  library.  Se7id 
us  7nore  ieachcrs  for  those  classes  that  have  710  teacher. ''' 

This  is  not  given  as  a  model  prayer,  but  only  to 
illustrate  what  is  meant  by  simple  petitions,  such  as 
will  be   likely  to  reach   the  understanding  and  the 


Il8  THE  SUPERINTENDENT, 

wants  of  children.  In  the  actual  prayers  of  any  par- 
ticular school  the  petitions  will  often  be  much  more 
specific  than  any  here  given,  and  they  will  vary  from 
week  to  week,  according  to  the  varying  wants  of  the 
school.  If  the  superintendent  in  his  prayer  thus 
comes  to  the  "  Father  who  is  in  heaven"  with  the  ac- 
tual wants  of  the  school,  expressed  in  a  plain,  straight- 
forward manner,  the  children  will  follow  him,  and 
the  exercise  will  be  one  that  they  will  take  pleasure  in. 
Another  Example.  But  suppose  the  superin- 
tendent begins  in  this  wise  : 

"  O  thou  great  and  tnysterious  Being,  who  mhabltest 
eternity,  whose  are  all  the  ends  of  the  earth,  who  alone 
dwellest  in  light  inaccessible  and  full  of  glory,  whom  no 
eye  hath  seen  nor  can  see,  who  art,  ajid  there  is  none  be- 
side thee,  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords,  look  down  in 
co7npassion  upon  us  thy  unworthy  creatiires,  who  have 
forsaken  the  fountain  of  living  waters  and  have  hewn 
out  to  ourselves  broken  ajid  leaky  cisterns  that  can  hold  no 
water  J  show  tis  how  vain  a7id  futile  are  sublunary  Joys 
and  pursuits ;  let  not  these  transitory  interests  and  pas- 
sions draw  us  away  from  those  heavenly  co7itemplations 
which  otight  to  fill  our  thoughts ;  7nay  we  rise  superior  to 
earth  a7id  its  allu7'e7ne7its,  the  things  of  time  a7id  se7ise, 
which  perish  with  the  using,  and  7nay  we  cleave  to  those 
eternal  realities  which  never  fade  away.  In  the  7nidst  of 
deserved  wrath  7'e)7ie77iber  7nercy.  Se7id  dow7i  thy  blessi7ig 
071  those  who77i  thou  hast  placed  in  the  respo7tsible  position 
of  instructors  of  the  you7ig  a7id  te7ider  77iind.  Bless  hi77t 
also  who  goes  out  a7id  i7t  before  us  a7id  breaks  to  us  the 
Wead  of  eve7-lasti7ig  life.  May  his  words  be  as  a  7iail 
drive7i  i7i  a  su7'e  place,  se7idi7tg  dow7i  its  roots  broad  and 
deep^  a7td  se7idi7ig  out  its  branches  like  a  green  bay  tree,. 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT.  119 

fair  as  the  moon,  clear  as  the  sun,  and  terrible  as  an  army 
with  banners  "  /  /  / 

How  long  is  it  likely  that  the  cliildrcn  will  follow 
such  a  prayer?  Will  not  the  superintendent  be  to 
them  as  one  that  beateth  the  air?  Will  he  not  be  as 
one  that  speaketh  in  an  unknown  tongue? 

The  Super intendenf s  AIan?ier.  Besides  the 
substance  of  the  prayer,  there  are  some  things  in  the 
manner  of  it  that  deserve  attention.  In  no  one  act 
of  the  superintendent  should  he  be  more  careful  of 
his  manner  than  when  he  thus  attempts  publicly  to 
lead  the  supplications  of  a  youthful  audience.  To 
this  end  let  his  manner  be  subdued  and  gentle. 
Noisy  vociferation,  equally  with  flippant  levity,  is 
utterly  irreconcilable  with  a  devout  and  humble 
spirit.  Above  all  things,  never  shout  out  the  name 
of  God  in  a  sharp,  loud  tone  of  voice.  Nothing  that 
you  can  say  to  enforce  the  obligation  of  the  Third 
Commandment  will  have  half  the  effect  upon  the 
youthful  heart  that  will  be  produced  by  your  own 
tender,  loving  tone  in  breathing  the  sweet  words, 
"  Our  Father  which  art  in  heaven."  Though  the 
petitions  be  brief  and  simple,  do  not,  in  uttering 
them,  rush  -on  hastily  from  one  to  another.  When 
the  late  Dr.  Ashbel  Green  was  in  the  height  of  his 
popularity  as  a  pulpit  orator,  one  night,  in  returning 
home  from  church  and  mingling  with  the  crowd,  he 
unintentionally  overheard  various  comments  upon 
the  sermon.  Among  other  remarks,  one  lady  said, 
"  Oh,  don't  you  admire  his  pauses  !"     The  lady  was 


I20  THE   SUPERINTENDENT. 

right.  There  is  often  strange  eloquence  in  a  pause. 
In  uttering  simple,  detached  petitions,  such  as  those 
quoted  in  the  first  example,  there  should  be  a  slight 
pause  after  each,  that  the  thought  may  rest  for  a  mo- 
ment upon  the  mind  of  the  hearers,  and  as  if  in  a  sort 
of  expectancy  of  its  effect  upon  His  mind  to  whom  it 
is  presented.  A  man  will  thus  pause  without  thinking 
of  it ;  indeed  he  cannot  help  doing  so  if  he  truly  real- 
izes what  it  is  to  present  a  series  of  requests  to 
Almighty  God.  Each  request  will  have  a  sober, 
separate,  deliberate  presentation. 

A  Devout  Pause  Before  and  After.  In  addition 
to  this  deliberateness  of  manner  during  the  prayer, 
there  should  be  a  special,  solemn  pause  before  and 
after  the  prayer.  Before  beginning  to  pray,  the  au- 
dience rise,  or  kneel,  or  make  some  change  of  posi- 
tion. If  the  audience  is  large,  consisting  of  several 
hundreds,  and  especially  if  they  are  children,  the 
change  of  position,  and  the  little  adjustments  of  dress 
and  person  attendant  upon  it,  necessarily  take  some 
perceptible  time.  The  superintendent  must  wait 
quietly  till  the  whole  movement  is  completed,  till 
the  attention  which  has  been  thus  momentarily 
diverted  has  returned  once  more  to  ihe  service. 
Let  him  pause  till  every  sound  is  hushed,  and  expect- 
ancy reigns  supreme.  Then  let  those  wonderful 
words,  "  Our  Father  which  art  in  heaven,"  begin  to 
fall  gently  on  the  ear. 

So,  too,  after  the  prayer,  let  there  be  a  pause,  as 
if  teachers  and  scholars  had  been  high  up  on  the 


THE   SUPERINTENDENT.  121 

mount  of  vision,  and  it  required  some  little  time  to 
break  oft'  from  that  solemn  communing.  Some 
superintendents  and  some  preachers  hardly  have 
*' Amen"  out  of  their  mouths  before  they  are  off  full 
gallop  upon  whatever  comes  next  in  order.  Before 
the  audience  have  resumed  their  seats,  or  have  had 
time  to  become  composed,  a  chapter  is  begun,  a 
text  is  announced,  or  there  is  a  rush  to  business  of 
some  kind.  It  is  needless  to  say,  the  solemnity  pro- 
duced by  the  prayer  receives  a  rude  shock  from  this 
indecorous  haste..  The  silent  prayer  at  the  close  of 
the  service  in  the  Episcopal  Church  is  a  most  beau- 
tiful observance.  How  much  more  becoming  is  this 
than  the  rattling  haste  with  which  some  congrega- 
tions rush  out  of  the  house  of  God  the  moment  the 
word  "  Amen"  is  pronounced  ! 

But  to  return  to  the  subject.  Let  the  superintend- 
ent and  the  school  learn  to  attain  a  quiet,  cheerful, 
composed  attention  before  beginning  to  address  the 
great  God,  and  let  them  also  retain  that  composure 
for  a  brief  space  after  closing  the  prayer,  and  before 
engaging  in  anything  else.  There  shouid  be  no  rude 
abruptness  either  on  entering  or  leaving  the  pres- 
ence of  the  great  King. 

Concluding  Remarks. 

If  any  superintendent,  judging  by  the  length  of 

these  remarks  about  opening  the  school,  should  infer 

the  propriety  of  making  his  opening  services  equally 

long,  he  would  make  a  grievous  mistake.    I  have  occu- 

11 


122  THE   SUPERINTENDENT. 

pied  more  than  twenty  pages  in  the  description  of  a 
service  which  at  the  longest  should  not  exceed  ten 
minutes.  But  many  people  forget,  or  never  find 
out,  that  what  requires  brief  space  in  action  often 
takes  long  and  toilsome  hours  of  patient  preparation. 
In  fact,  the  briefer  the  time  for  action,  the  greater 
and  more  minute  must  be  the  preparation.  The 
speaker  was  not  astray  who  apologized  for  his  ad- 
dress being  so  long,  by  saying  that  he  had  not  had 
time  to  make  it  shorter.  Many  people  also  mistake 
haste  for  speed.  An  expert  will  .execute  a  move- 
ment with  entire  composure,  and  as  if  he  was  quite 
at  his  leisure  ;  and  yet,  if  you  time  him,  you  find  that 
he  gets  through  it  with  extraordinary  despatch. 
With  what  wonderful  celerity  some  of  the  most 
critical  operations  in  surgery  are  performed  !  Yet 
the  operator  proceeds  with  all  the  steadiness  and 
apparent  deliberation  of  one  taking  an  airing.  It  is 
because  in  these  cases  there  is  really  no  crude  ex- 
temporization. Everything,  to  the  minutest  par- 
ticular, is  thought  of  and  prepared  for  beforehand. 

If  the  superintendent  comes  to  his  work  of  opening 
school  without  full  and  special  preparation,  he  will 
be  very  apt  either  to  spin  out  to  an  unreasonable 
length  what  he  has  to  do,  or  to  rush  through  ifwith 
a  fatal  haste  that  accomplishes  nothing.  Every 
mistake  of  the  superintendent  is,  in  its  effect,  multi- 
plied by  the  number  of  those  under  his  care.  In  a 
large  school,  say  of  three  hundred  scholars,  every 
minute  during  which  the   superintendent  detains  the 


THE  SUPERINTENDENT.  1 23 

school  unnecessarily  makes  a  loss  of  three  hundred 
minutes,  which  is  five  hours.  He  must  study  there- 
fore the  art  of  expediting  matters.  On  the  other 
hand,  entire  deliberation  and  steadiness  are  abso- 
lutely essential.  A  jerking,  fitful  movement  is  fatal. 
The  scholars  w^ill  detect  at  once  w^hether  the  super- 
intendent really  know^s  what  he  is  about,  just  as  the 
steeds  before  a  coach  know  who  it  is  that  handles 
the  reins.  As  the  skilful  driver  has  tlie  art  of  com- 
municating his  own  impulses,  of  difiusing  his  very 
self,  so  to  speak,  through  the  dumb  beasts  that  like 
a  single  living  intelligence  yield  their  wills  to  his,  so 
when  the  superintendent  takes  the  reins  and  calls 
the  school  to  order,  he  must  aim  to  make  every  one 
in  the  room  feel  his  touch.  He  must  diffuse  him- 
self through  the  entire  mass.  He  must  try  to  wield 
the  thoughts  and  the  willing  attention  of  all.  Chil- 
dren, no  less  than  horses,  delight  to  give  themselves 
up  to  the  control  of  a  master  mind.  Like  horses,  too, 
they  are  not  slow  to  kick  out  of  the  traces  the  mo- 
ment they  detect  a  want  of  skill  in  the  driver.  Let 
no  one  expect  to  wield  this  power  who  has  not 
studied  carefully  what  he  has  to  do,  and  who  has 
not  every  particular  so  perfectly  and  definitely  settled 
in  his  mind  that  he  cannot  by  any  possibility  be 
thrown  into  confusion  and  disorder. 

Do  not  consider  me  prolix,  therefore,  if  I  have 
taken  a  good  deal  of  space  in  canvassing  the  details 
of  a  service  which  in  its  actual  performance  occupies, 
or  at  least  ought  to  occupy,  a  very  little  time. 


CHAPTER    IV. 


THE   TEACHER. 

|HE  main  work  of  the  Sunday-school  is  that 
done  by  the  teacher.  The  present  chapter, 
devoted  to  the  consideration  of  his  various 


duties  and  qualifications,  will  necessarily  be  the 
longest,  as  it  is  the  most  important,  in  the  book. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  follow  any  particular  order  in 
this  discussion,  but  the  several  topics  connected  with 
the  subject  will  be  considered,  one  after  another,  in 
such  manner  as  shall  seem  most  conducive  in  each 
case  to  some  practical  result. 

I.    The  First  ^lalification. 

Let  the  teacher  ever  remember  that  the  great  end 
of  Sunday-school  instruction  is  the  salvation  of  the 
soul.  We  would  bring  the  children  to  Jesus.  This 
is  the  beginning,  middle  and  end  of  our  effort.  The 
humble  disciple  who  brings  others  to  the  saving 
knowledge  of  the  Lord  Jesus  is  doing  a  good  work, 
though  the  teachings  by  which  it  is  done  are  old- 
fashioned  and  quaint  and  behind  the  times,  though 
the  teacher  may  know  nothing  of  the  new  methods, 

124 


THE    TEACHER.  1 25 

though  his  class  may  make  no  show  at  anniversaries, 
and  may  have  nothing  about  it  that  is  novel  or  pic- 
turesque. 

I  am  about  to  give  considerable  space  to  the  dis- 
cussion of  Sunday-school  methods.  Teachers'  in- 
stitutes, model  lessons,  Sunday-school  libraries, 
Sunday-school  music,  means  of  registering  attend- 
ance, means  of  securing  attention,  means  of  visible 
illustration, — these  and  similar  topics  will  be  com- 
mended to  the  earnest  attention  of  the  reader.  I 
feel  that  too  much  or  too  earnest  attention  cannot  be 
given  to  these  topics.  At  the  same  time,  I  desire  at 
the  outset  to  recall  to  the  mind  of  the  reader  that 
these  are  but  means,  and  that  the  end  of  them  all  is 
to  win  souls  to  Christ.  The  true,  genuine  conversion 
of  one  child  by  the  most  antiquated  method  of  teach- 
ing, is  a  better  result  than  the  most  brilliant  and 
captivating  display  of  skill  which  yields  to  the 
Master  no  harvest  of  souls. 

I  commend  the  new  methods  with  all  my  heart. 
I  earnestly  exhort  all  Sunday-school  teachers  to 
avail  themselves  of  every  opportunity  of  studying  the 
art  of  teaching.  Observe  others,  read  books  on  the 
subject,  attend  institutes,  make  experiments.  Use 
your  utmost  diligence  in  these  things.  But  forget 
not  that  infinitely  greater  preparation,  the  fresh  bap- 
tism of  your  own  soul  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  Get  your 
own  heart  all  aglow  with  a  burning  love  for  souls. 
Get  some  realizing  sense  of  the  inexpressible  value 
of  the  soul.  Let  it  be  no  sham,  no  mere  make- 
11* 


126  THE    TEACHER. 

believe,  when  you  tell  your  children  of  your  earnest 
desire  for  their  salvation.  This  is  the  first  qualifica- 
tion, before  and  beyond  every  other,  for  the  office  of 
Sunday-school  teacher,  that  he  have  the  same  mind 
that  was  in  Christ — an  earnestness  of  love  for  the 
work  that  has  in  it  something  of  agony. 

Love  is  inventive.  Its  ends  are  so  inexpressibly 
dear  that  it  stimulates  the  mind  to  the  highest  exer- 
cise of  its  powers  in  finding  out  how  those  ends  may 
be  secured.  A  soul  burning  with  a  love  like  that 
which  brought  Jesus  down  to  earth  will  by  that 
very  passion  be  raised  to  a  degree  of  mental  power 
of  which  it  had  before  been  deemed  incapable.  A 
man  with  this  intense,  almost  consuming,  fire  of  love 
in  his  bosom,  does  not,  therefore,  work  without 
means  or  against  means,  but  the  very  strength  of  his 
desires  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  end  leads  him 
to  use  with  increased  diligence  all  the  means  within 
his  reach.  This  is  the  true  incentive  to  invention, 
to  study,  to  toil,  to  self-denial.  The  Sunday-school 
work  is  no  mere  pastime,  no  holiday  entertainment, 
but  real  ivork^  requiring  for  its  propelling  power 
something  more  than  a  love  of  novelty,  or  a  love  of 
applause,  or  a  pleasurable  excitement.  To  carry  us 
through  triumphantly  to  the  end,  to  make  us  perse- 
vering and  hopeful  under  discouragements,  to  give 
us  courage  in  the  face  of  obstacles  and  dangers,  to 
make  us  tireless  in  effort  and  exhaustless  in  invention, 
ever  willing  to  learn  in  order  that  we  may  teach, 
ever  ready  to  try  a  new  method  when  old  methods 


THE    TEACHER.  1 27 

fail,  and  never  willing  to  yield  so  long  as  any  method 
remains  untried  by  which  we  may  bring  a  lost  soul 
back  to  the  fold  of  Christ — to  do  all  this  we  need  to 
feel,  as  Christ  did,  that  one  soul  is  really  and  truly  of 
more  value  than  the  whole  world  beside. 

To  have  this  conviction  of  the  value  of  the  soul, 
this  burning  love  for  the  salvation  of  souls,  is  the 
tirst,  the  incomparably  greatest  qualification  of  the 
Sunday-school  teacher.  It  can  only  be  had  in  the 
closet  of  secret  prayer,  by  the  direct  outpouring  of 
the  Holy  Ghost.  But  it  may  be  had  by  every  one. 
We  must  get  it,  as  we  get  our  own  salvation  ^  by 
begging  for  it  on  our  knees,  and  by  continuing  to 
beg  until  we  get  what  we  ask.  The  teacher  needs 
to  study,  needs  to  read  books  instructing  him  in  his 
duties,  needs  to  attend  institutes  and  normal  classes 
and  conventions,  needs  to  talk  over  with  his  fellow- 
workers  the  work  that  he  has  in  hand.  But  his 
first  need,  his  greatest  need,  his  most  constant,  par- 
amount, indispensable  need,  is  to  pray.  Prayer — 
secret,  incessant,  importunate  prayer — is  the  one 
means  which  he  may  never  neglect  —  prayer,  not 
only  for  his  scholars,  but  for  himself,  that  he  may 
have  such  a  baptism  of  the  Spirit  as  shall  set  his 
whole  being  aglow  with  new  life,  and  shall  make 
him  feel  all  the  length  and  breadth  and  height  and 
depth  of  that  awful  question,  "  What  is  a  man 
profited  if  he  shall  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose 
his  own  soul?  or  what  shall  a  man  give  in  exchange 
for  his  soul?" 


1 28  THE    TEACHER. 

A  true  impression  of  the  unutterable  greatness  of 
divine  things  is  the  teacher's  first  qualification.  It 
is  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  obtainable  by  prayer, 
and  free  to  all.  The  teacher  who  has  this  gift  will 
be  no  laggard  in  acquiring  the  others. 

2.     Winning  Souls. 

The  ultimate  end  of  all  Sunday-school  teaching, 
and  of  all  the  means  connected  with  it,  as  I  have  so 
often  said,  is  to  bring  souls  to  Christ.  Of  this  truth 
there  is  no  serious  doubt  in  any  quarter.  All  Sun- 
day-school men  agree  in  regard  to  it.  It  is  our 
common  bond  of  union — the  first  article  of  our  Sun- 
day-school faith. 

But  in  regard  to  this  cardinal  point  there  are  two 
opposing  extremes  which  we  need  to  be  guarded 
against. 

The  first  is  the  mistake  of  those  who  have  their 
thoughts  so  exclusively  directed  to  the  end  that  they 
seem  to  forget  the  means.  They  are  like  a  man  who 
expects  to  win  a  race  by  looking  intently  at  the  goal, 
while  neglecting  to  see  that  his  horse  is  properly 
bridled  and  saddled,  and  without  paying  heed  to  the 
various  bends  and  inequalities  of  the  track.  There 
is  a  mode  of  dealing  with  children,  in  trying  to  con- 
vert them,  which  consists  in  what  children  them- 
selves expressively  call  picking  at  them.  Some  pious 
people  seem  to  think  that  they  are  doing  nothing 
toward  building  up  the  kingdom  of  God  unless  they 
are  incessantly  exhorting  somebody  "  to  escape  the 


THE    TEACHER.  1 29 

damnation  of  hell."  A  teacher  is  not  necessarily 
neglecting  or  forgetting  the  great  end  of  his  labors 
because  that  end  is  not  perpetually  on  his  tongue. 
A  teacher  may  really  and  truly  have  the  conversion 
and  salvation  of  his  scholars  in  view,  who  spends 
many  an  hour  in  labors  in  which  that  end  is  not 
once  named.  He  has  not  necessarily  lost  sight  of  it 
because  he  is  training  his  fingers  to  skill  in  the  use 
of  the  crayon  and  the  blackboard,  because  he  is 
studying  geography  and  history,  because  he  is  read- 
ing books  on  the  theory  and  practice  of  teaching, 
and  is  attending  teachers'  institutes  and  normal 
classes.  These  things  are  among  the  means  by 
which  the  Sunday-school  workman  is  equipped  for 
his  work.  Whatever  can  awaken  a  greater  love  for 
the  work,  or  can  improve  the  methods  by  which  it 
is  to  be  accomplished,  or  can  remove  obstacles  from 
the  path  of  the  worker,  is  important  as  a  part  of  the 
means. 

But,  secondly,  there  are  those  who  become  so  ab- 
sorbed in  the  study  and  use  of  the  means  that  they 
virtually  forget  the  end.  This  is  the  danger  in  the 
other  direction.  Let  us,  then,  accept  this  exhorta- 
tion, Never  to  forget  what  it  is  that  we  are  laboring 
for.  It  is  not  merely  to  build  up  large  and  showy 
schools,  it  is  not  merely  to  have  big  meetings  and 
eloquent  speeches.  The  end  of  all  our  labors  is  to 
win  souls  for  Jesus.  Our  new  school-houses,  our 
"normal"  methods,  our  "blackboards"  and  "insti- 
tutes," our  books  and  pictures  and  papers,  our  con- 

I 


130  THE    TEACHER. 

sultations  and  gatherings  and  teachers'  meetings, 
and  our  improved  machinery  of  every  kind,  are  all 
of  questionable  utility  unless  a  holy  ardor  for  wni- 
ning  souls  pervades  and  animates  them  all. 

If,  with  all  our  improved  methods  and  machinery, 
no  souls  are  converted,  let  us  seriously  re-examine 
our  whole  position.  If,  within  the  sphere  of  our 
observation,  there  is  some  humble  laborer,  some 
pious  and  devoted  Mary  Gardiner,  who  without  any 
of  these  improvements  is  quietly  and  unostentatiously 
bringing  in  a  continual  harvest  of  souls,  let  us  go 
and  sit  meekly  at  her  feet  as  learners.  We  need  not 
give  up  our  improvements.  But  'let  us  catch  that 
living  spirit  without  which  all  else  is  mere  machinery. 

The  conversion  of  his  scholars  need  not  always 
be  on  the  teacher's  tongue,  but  it  should  be  ever  in 
his  heart.  Let  it  burn  there  as  an  unquenchable 
fire.  The  mistake  of  some  teachers  in  this  matter  is, 
not  in  thinking  and  feeling  too  much  about  it,  but  in 
talking  too  much  about  it. 

While  we  should  not  be  so  much  occupied  with 
the  means  as  to  forget  the  end,  and  while  also  we 
should  not  disgust  and  harden  our  scholars  by  that 
sort  of  pointless  iteration  which  becomes  wearisome, 
let  us  also  avoid  that  other  and  worse  extreme  of 
never  making  religion  a  personal  question.  There 
is  such  a  thing  as  being  entirely  too  dainty  in  this 
matter.  Our  scholars  ought  to  feel  in  their  inmost 
souls  that  that  which  brings  us  to  the  class  is  not 
their  amusement,  but  their  salvation.     If  we  fail  to 


THE    TEACHER.  13 1 

give  them  this  impression,  we  are  seriously  derelict. 
There  is  something  to  be  done  which  we  have  not 
yet  done. 

Besides  this  general  impression,  which  is  the 
combined  result  of  our  whole  manner,  the  teacher 
should  at  proper  times  bring  the  subject  of  personal 
religion  home  to  the  conscience  of  each  pupil  by 
direct  individual  appeal.  Let  no  natural  timidity 
or  conscious  want  of  skill  keep  us  from  the  discharge 
of- this  imperative  duty.  A  few  words,  well  timed 
and  fitly  spoken,  may  bring  to  a  decisive  point  all 
the  labor  and  preparation  of  months.  For  the  want 
of  such  a  direct  appeal,  all  the  general  and  indirect 
labor  of  weeks  and  months  may  be  dissipated  and 
come  to  nought. 

3.    Help  from  the   Great   Teacher. 

Sunday-school  teachers  at  the  present  day,  more 
than  at  any  previous  time,  are  pondering  the  ques- 
tion how  they  may  best  qualify  themselves  for  their 
work.  Nothing  is  more  evident  than  the  fiict  that 
there  has  been  among  teachers  a  great  awakening 
on  this  subject.  The  chief  movement  in  Sunday- 
school  matters  for  the  last  few  years  has  been  in  this 
direction.  Teachers  are  zealously  studying  how  to 
teach.  Maps,  visible  illustrations,  natural  objects, 
blackboards  and  chalk,  model  teachers'  meetings, 
and  model  lessons  of  every  grade,  have  become 
universally  famtliar.  Anything  which  can  help  the 
teacher  in  his  work  is  souirht  for  and  welcomed. 


t32  THE    TEACHER. 

In  this  general  inquiry  for  help  there  is  one  agency 
which  should  never  be  neglected.  I  refer  to  the  in- 
fluence of  the  Holy  Spirit.  In  the  meetings  for 
prayer  on  this  subject  the  aid  of  the  Spirit  is  indeed 
often  invoked,  but  not  for  the  particular  point  now 
in  view.  He  is  asked  to  convert  the  children,  to 
open  their  minds  that  they  may  understand  and  re- 
ceive the  truth.  This  is  all  very  well.  But  teachers 
need  his  influence  on  themselves,  and  that  not 
merely  in  touching  their  hearts  and  creating  in  them 
greater  love  for  their  work  and  for  their  children, 
but  in  giving  them  skill.  We  all  too  much  ignore 
the  fact  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  source  of  mental 
as  well  as  of  moral  power.  The  teacher  who 
will  may  have  him  as  an  instructor,  to  give  wis- 
dom and  skill,  just  as  surely  and  effectually  as  did 
Bezaleel  of  old  in  constructing  the  work  of  the 
tabernacle. 

It  is  worth  while  for  teachers  to  ponder  well  the 
memorable  saying  of  Christ  to  his  disciples  just  be- 
fore leaving  them,  as  recorded  in  the  14th  chapter 
of  John.  Up  to  that  time  they  had  Jesus  as  their 
daily  teacher.  But  now  he  gave  them  to  understand 
that  he  was  about  to  leave  them,  and  they  were  filled 
with  consternation,  remembering  on  how  many  sub- 
jects they  were  still  ignorant,  and  feeling  that  they 
would  need  continual  guidance  and  instruction. 
Our  Saviour  assures  them  that  when  he  has  ascended 
to  heaven,  and  is  no  longer  persona:lly  present  with 
them,  another  Person  of  the  Godhead  shall  be  sent, 


THE    TEACHER.  133 

who  will  be  with  the  disciples  in  the  place  of  Jesus ; 
"  He  shall  teach  you  all  things." 

This  is  doubtless  a  great  mystery — as  great  as  that 
of  the  Incarnation.  Yet  it  is  none  the  less  a  fact,  as 
sober  and  practical  as  it  is  momentous.  God  the 
Holy  Ghost  is  in  some  way  present  to  the  hearts  and 
minds  of  men,  and  does  in  some  way  influence 
them,  helping  them  to  think  as  well  as  to  feel,  guid- 
ing the  judgment,  quickening  the  invention  and  the 
memory  (He  shall  "  bring  all  things  to  your  remem- 
brance"), making  clear  what  is  obscure,  giving  us 
control  over  the  attention,  bringing  right  thoughts  to 
the  mind,  right  words  to  the  lips.  This  agency  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  in  its  effects  upon  mental  action 
needs  to  be  pondered  by  teachers.  I  do  not  propose 
to  explain  it.  The  fact,  indeed,  does  not  admit  of 
explanation.  Yet  perhaps  an  illustration  or  two 
may  mak«  it  more  appreciable. 

Let  it  be  remembered,  then,  that  action  of  every 
kind,  mental  or  material,  is  to  be  aided  and  acceler- 
ated, if  at  all,  by  force  of  the  same  kind  with  the 
primary  force.  If  a  certain  amount  of  weight  avoir- 
dupois will  not  make  the  scale  kick  the  beam,  we 
may  produce  the  effect  by  laying  on  the  requisite 
number  of  additional  pounds — that  is,  by  adding 
force  of  the  same  kind  with*  the  original.  If  the 
flame  of  one  candle  does  not  produce  the  illumina- 
tion required  for  a  particular  eflfect,  the  addition  of 
a  second  or  of  a  third  will.  If  we  wish  to  increase 
the  speed  of  a  locomotive,  we  do  not  whistle  to  it,  or 
12 


134  I^HE   TEACHER. 

whip  it,  or  say  to  it  "get  up  ;"  we  add  steam.  If, 
on  the  other  hand,  we  wish  our  horse  to  travel 
faster,  we  use  a  motive  addressed  to  his  nature.  We 
appeal  to  his  generosity,  his  pride,  or  his  fear.  So 
mental  action  is  influenced  and  induced  by  forces  of 
the  same  nature  with  itself.  One  mind  operates 
powerfully  upon  another  mind,  working  often,  too, 
by  mysterious  influences  that  elude  analysis. 

The  influence  of  mind  upon  mind,  other  things 
being  equal,  is  in  proportion  to  the  completeness  of 
these  three  conditions — the  fulness  of  accord  and 
sympathy  between  two  minds  that  are  brought  into 
contact,  the  closeness  of  the  contact,  and  the  great- 
ness and  power  of  the  influencing  and  controlling 
mind.  A  mind  fully  in  sympathy  with  another  is 
by  that  very  circumstance  in  a  condition  to  be  power- 
fully influenced  by  that  other.  In  like  manner,  as 
we  all  know  by  daily  experience,  the  mind  is  lifted 
up,  enlarged,  enlightened,  strengthened,  by  inter- 
course with  one  of  powerful  intellect.  We  all  feel, 
too,  when  wishing  to  influence  any  one,  that  we 
could  effect  our  end  the  better  if  we  could  but  get 
our  mind  into  actual  contact,  as  it  were,  with  his 
mind,  if  we  could  enter  into  the  very  chamber  of  his 
soul,  so  as  to  know  certainly  and  exactly  what  he  is 
thinking  of.  This  indeed  we  can  never  do.  We 
think  sometimes  that  we  come  very  near  to  each 
other.  But,  after  all,  we  never  touch.  Between  my 
mind  and  yours,  between  your  mind  and  that  of  the 
most  intimate  friend  you  have  in  the  world,  there  is 


THE    TEACHER.  135. 

a  barrier,  high  as  heaven,  deep  as  hell,  impenetrable 
as  adamant.  Thus  far  can  we  come  and  no  farther. 
We  can  never  enter  into  the  soul  of  any  human 
being.     No  human  being  can  ever  enter  into  ours. 

Yet  there  is  one  Mind,  and  that  a  Mind  of  infi- 
nitely great  and  transcendent  power,  to  which  there 
is  no  such  barrier,  and  this  transcendent,  all-know- 
ing, all-powerful  Mind  is  in  direct  contact  with  the 
very  essence  of  our  minds.  .  Can  I  influence  the 
thinking  faculties  of  a  fellow-man,  and  cannot  the 
infinite  God,  who  made  those  faculties.''  Can  He, 
who  gives  our  bodies  all  their  power  of  growth  and 
strength  not  give  growth  and  strength  to  our  minds? 

I  do  not  profess  to  understand  how  the  divine 
Mind  acts  upon  the  human  mind.  I  cannot  always 
understand  how  one  human  mind  acts  upon  another. 
But  of  the  fact,  I  make  no  more  question  than  I  do 
of  the  power  of  flame,  of  steam,  or  of  gravitation. 

In  all  earnestness,  then,  would  I  exhort  teachers 
devoutly  to  invoke  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the 
prosecution  of  study.  If  you  would  acquire  that 
mental  discipline  which  is  to  enable  you  to  study 
and  to  teach  in  the  very  best  and  highest  manner, 
PRAY !  Call  mightily  upon  God  the  Holy  Ghost, 
who  is  after  all  the  great  educator  and  teacher  of  the 
human  race.  Carry  your  feeble  lamp  to  the  great 
Fountain  of  light  and  radiance.  Put  your  heart  into 
full  accord  and  sympathy  with  that  of  the  infinite 
Mind.  Wrestle  with  him  mightily  in  secret,  as  one 
that  feels  the  burden  of  a  great  want. 


136  THE   TEACHER, 

There  is  sound  philosophy  as  well  as  religion  in 
the  utterance  of  the  wise  man :  "  The  fear  of  the 
Lord  is  the  beginning  of  knowledge^  Surely  that 
man  is  not  wise  who,  in  cultivating  mind,  whether 
his  own  or  that  of  another,  neglects  to  invoke  the  aid 
of  the  infinite  Mind. 

4.  Having  an  Aim, 

Much  of  the  efforts  of  good  people  come  to  nought 
because  those  efforts  are  put  forth  without  delibera- 
tion or  distinctness  of  purpose.  The  fleet-footed 
youth  Ahimaaz  is  a  fair  representative  of  many  well- 
meaning  people  nowadays.  There  had  been  a 
great  battle,  and  he  was  in  all  haste  to  carry  the 
news  to  the  king.  In  his  zeal  he  actually  outran  the 
more  sober-minded  Cushi,  and  was  the  first  to  enter 
the  royal  presence.  But  when  asked  his  tidings,  he 
could  only  say,  "  I  saw  a  great  tumult,  but  I  knew 
not  what  it  was."  So  the  king  said  to  him,  "  Turn 
aside  and  stand  there."  Thus,  too  often,  in  their 
"zeal  to  be  doing  something,  people  rush  out  into  the 
thickest  of  the  turmoil  without  knowing  exactly 
what  it  is  that  needs  to  be  done,  and  without  having 
formed  for  themselves  any  definite  plan  of  action. 
Such  proceedings  are  worse  than  a  mere  waste  of 
energy.  They  are  often  positively  injurious.  Paul 
says  :  "  So  fighj  I,  not  as  one  that  beateth  the  air." 
When  he  gave  a  blow,  he  was  careful  to  take  aim. 
He  wished  to  hit  somebody,  and  to  hit  the  right  one. 
These  people  who  thrust  out  at  random  not  only 


THE    TEACHER.  137 

beat  the  air ;  they  often  hit  and  hurt  the  very  ones 
whom  they  seek  to  befriend. 

The  teacher,  of  all  persons,  and  the  Sunday-school 
teacher,  of  all  teachers,  should  seek  distinctness  of 
aims.  The  work  is  one  in  which  mistakes  are  so 
easy  and  so  mischievous.  Children,  in  consequence 
of  their  inexperience  and  their  pliability,  are  more 
easily  led  astray  than  grown  people.  The  interests 
at  stake  are  more  momentous  than  those  which  con- 
cern merely  the  loss  or  gain  of  money.  Another 
thing  which  makes  it  particularly  important  that 
care  and  right  methods  should  be  used,  is  that 
the  Sunday-school  work  is  not  so  well  organized 
as  the  work  of  the  week-day  school.  In  a  well-or- 
ganized public  school  a  bungler  has  not  half  the 
power  of  mischief  that  he  would  have  in  a  Sunday- 
school. 

It  is  the  duty  of  every  teacher,  therefore,  to  spend 
some  time  in  reflection.  Less  action  and  more 
thought  is  sometimes  the  true  wisdom.  If  the 
teacher  would  have  a  full  measure  of  success  in  his 
work,  he  should  occasionally  pause,  and  take  time 
for  consideration.  He  should  fix  upon  certain  defi- 
nite ends  to  be  accomplished,  and  then  keep  these 
steadily  before  him. 

What  are  some  of  the  aims  that  the  Sunday-school 
teacher  should  have  distinctly  in  view  ?  or,  to  vary 
the  expression,  what  are  some  of  the  things  which 
he  should  aim  to  bring  about?  I  will  indicate  some 
few  of  these,  without  undertaking,  of  course,  to  ex- 
12* 


138  THE    TEACHER. 

haust  the  list,  and  without  reference  to  the  relative 
importance  of  the  topics  named. 

1.  Regulai'Uy  of  Attendance.  A  teacher  should 
aim  to  secure  a  regular  attendance  of  his  pupils. 
How  this  is  to  be  done  is  another  matter.  The  point 
I  now  make  is  that  it  should  be  one  of  the  things  at 
which  the  teacher  should  distinctly  and  deliberately 
aim.  The  means  will  vary  with  varying  circum- 
stances. That  which  will  answer  with  one  class 
will  not  answer  with  another  class.  One  teacher 
has  means  at  his  disposal  that  another  has  not. 
What  I  urge  upon  every  teacher  is  to  fix  this  end  in 
his  mind,  and  exhaust  every  means  at  his  disposal  to 
accomplish  it.  One  thing,  however,  may  be  as- 
sumed as  certain :  the  end  will  never  be  accom- 
plished by  scolding.  A  gentleman  of  my  acquaint- 
ance had  a  Bible-class  in  the  city  of  New  York. 
On  assuming  the  charge,  he  adopted  the  following 
plan.  Whenever  a  puj^il  was  absent,  he  invariably 
called  at  the  scholar's  home  to  inquire  into  the  cause, 
and  if  possible  on  the  very  day  that  the  absence  oc- 
curred. The  consequence  was  that  absences,  except 
for  serious  and  satisfactory  causes,  were  entirely  bro- 
ken up.  The  plan  was  completely  successful,  and 
after  the  first  few  Sundays  gave  him  very  little  trou- 
ble. The  scholars  got  so  into  the  habit  of  coming 
regularly  that  he  rarely  had  calls  to  make. 

2.  Study  of  the  Lesson.  A  teacher  should  aim  to 
secure  from  every  scholar  a  study  of  the  lesson.  The 
facts  on  this  subject  are  discouraging,  almost  alarm- 


THE    TEACHER.  139 

ing.  It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  more  than 
half  the  children  who  attend  Sunday-school  go  with- 
out any  preparatory  study  of  the  lesson.  I  do  not 
say  that  even  in  such  cases  they  learn  nothing  or  get 
no  good.  They  may  learn  something  from  hearing 
others  recite  and  from  the  explanations  of  the 
teacher,  even  if  they  have  not  studied  the  lesson  at 
home.  But  the  good  accomplished  is  small  indeed 
in  comparison  with  what  might  be  done  were  there 
the  proper  amount  of  home  study.  How  this  home 
study  is  to  be  secured  I  do  not  undertake  now  to  say. 
All  I  say  to  the  teacher  is,  aim  at  it.  Persevere  in 
your  aim.  If  one  method  fails,  try  another.  Give 
the  matter  some  thought  and  consideration.  Use 
your  invention.  One  thing,  however,  you  may  de- 
pend upon.  If  you  let  the  matter  take  its  own 
course,  unless  you  are  more  fortunate  in  your  pupils 
than  most  teachers,  you  will  rarely  find  your  class 
decently  prepared  on  the  lesson. 

3.  Maintaiiiing  Order.  The  teacher  should  aim 
to  keep  order  in  his  class.  How  this  is  to  be  done 
it  would  require  many  pages  to  show.  Whole  vol- 
umes, indeed,  have  been  written  upon  it.  One  thing 
only  I  say  about  it  now.  The  very  first  step  toward 
the  maintenance  of  order  is  for  the  teacher  to  make 
up  his  mind  that  the  thing  must  be  done.  Necessity 
is  the  mother  of  invention.  Let  the  necessity  first  of 
all  be  admitted,  distinctly,  fully.  Means  will  follow. 
Many  teachers  unfortunately  seem  to  be  entirely  pur- 
poseless on  the  subject.     They  leave  the  matter  to 


140  THE    TEACHER. 

the  chapter  of  accidents,  or  they  leave  it  to  the  poor, 
overburdened  superintendent.  Let  every  teacher  un- 
derstand that  in  this  thing  aiming  at  the  end  is  half 
the  road  toward  reaching  it.  The  first  rule  for  keep- 
ing order  is,  resolve  that  you  will  have  it.  Fix  it 
definitely  in  your  mind  as  a  thing  to  be  done  by  some 
means  ;  then  revolve  in  your  mind  what  those  means 
shall  be. 

The  burden  of  maintaining  order  does  not  rest  on 
the  superintendent  alone.  It  is  a  joint  responsibility. 
Each  teacher  ought  to  hold  himself  responsible  for 
the  order  of  his  own  class.  Nearly  all  that  has  been 
said  of  the  superintendent  on  this  subject  will  apply 
to  the  teacher.  The  teacher,  however,  comes  into 
closer  and  more  immediate  contact  with  individuals. 
His  is  a  contest  hand  to  hand,  and  he  will  soon  find 
that  either  he  or  his  scholars  must  rule.  This  rule 
must  be  real  and  no  sham.  But  it  need  not  be  harsh. 
It  need  not  be  ostentatious.  The  less  show  of  gov- 
ernment, so  there  really  is  government,  the  better. 
In  the  asylum  for  the  insane,  the  windows  are  se- 
cured by  iron  bars  and  the  furniture  is  made  of  iron, 
so  that  it  cannot  be  broken,  and  there  is  no  possibilty 
of  escape.  But  the  furniture  is  all  painted  to  look 
like  wood,  and  the  windows  seem  to  have  merely  a 
light,  graceful  lattice-work.  Let  the  teacher,  even 
when  he  has  to  resort  to  what  almost  amounts  to  re- 
straint, be  as  gentle  about  it  and  make  as  little  show 
of  it  as  possible.  You  may  give  a  command  with- 
out putting  it  in  the  imperative  mood.     "  Will  you 


THE    TEACHER.  141 

please  ?"  has  the  form  of  a  request ;  and  when  the 
boy  does  please,  he  seems  to  be  doing  a  favor,  and 
yet  there  has  been  a  real  putting  forth  of  authority  on 
the  one  side  and  a  yielding  of  obedience  on  the  other. 
Remember,  too,  that  the  forms  of  politeness  always 
inspire  children  with  respect.  But  there  must  be  no 
make-believe  about  it.  A  group  of  children  have  a 
wonderful  quickness  at  seeing  through  any  kind  of 
shams. 

It  will  help  the  teacher  in  keeping  his  class  in 
order  if  he  will  be  careful  to  sit  in  such  a  position 
that  he  can  at  all  times  see  all  the  members  of  his 
class.  In  some  schools,  where  semicircular  benches 
are  used,  it  is  not  uncommon  to  see  a  teacher  place 
himself  so  near  the  scholars  at  the  centre  of  the  seat 
that  those  on  the  extreme  right  and  left  are  entirely 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  teacher's  vision.  In  fact 
they  are  behind  him. 

The  power  to  govern  children  does  not  come  by 
delegation.  Scholars  mind  you,  if  at  all,  not  be- 
cause the  superintendent  or  their  parents  have  told 
them  they  must  mind  you,  but  because  it  is  in  you  to 
be  minded.  This  power  over  children  is  a  personal 
attribute,  inherent,  incommunicable.  The  first  ele- 
ment in  it  is  a  strong  will.  You  must  resolutely  de- 
termine to  carry  your  point.  The  next  element  in 
importance  is  a  persuasive  manner,  and  the  best  way 
to  bring  about  this  persuasive  manner  is  to  cultivate 
a  love  for  children  in  your  heart.  Without  this  love 
in  your  heart  all  your  smiles  and  your  bland  words 


142  THE    TEACHER. 

will  be  sham,  and  will  be  seen  to  be  such  by  the 
children.  These  two  ingredients,  love  and  firmness 
are  the  main  sources  of  the  teacher's  power. 

4.  Aim  to  -Teach  Something.  Let  the  teacher  aim 
distinctly  to  teach  something.  This  may  seem  a  very 
simple  rule,  hardly  worth  uttering.  Yet  many  make 
a  serious  mistake  just  here.  They  occupy  the 
teacher's  chair,  they  go  through  a  certain  routine  of 
duty  from  week  to  week,  but  they  do  not  teach. 
Let  it  be  remembered  that  talking  is  not  necessarily 
teaching.  Hearing  recitations  is  not  teaching.  Teach- 
ing is  making  some  one  know  what  he  did  not  know 
before.  Let  the  teacher,  when  the  hour  is  over,  ask 
himself  this  question  :  Do  my  class  know  anything 
which  they  did  not  know  before?  or  have  they 
merely  exhibited  to  me  what  they  had  learned  in 
preparing  the  lesson  ?  Have  they  gone  away  with  a 
distinct,  positive  addition  to  their  scriptural  know- 
ledge? This  will  be  found  a  searching  and  critical 
question,  and  the  teacher  who  can  answer  it  in  the 
affirmative  will  find  himself  surely  gaining  a  hold 
upon  his  scholars.  Nothing  so  effectually  secures 
good  attendance  as  the  consciousness  on  the  part  of 
the  pupils  that  they  are  learning.  But  the  teacher 
who  would  reach  this  end  must  aim  at  it  with  dis- 
tinct purpose,  and  must  habitually  raise  the  ques- 
tion, whether  he  has  really  been  teaching.  If  he 
does  not,  he  may  depend  upon  it  that  much  of  his 
labor  is  going  to  waste.  He  is  working,  but  doing 
nothing. 


THE    TEACHER.  1 43 

5.  Aim  to  Teach  So7ne thing  Additional  JSvcry 
Su7iday.  The  mistake  of  some  teachers  is  that  they 
act  fitfully.  They  get  hold  of  a  new  thought  now  aiul 
then,  and  lavish  their  gifts  of  instruction  upon  the  class 
for  a  while,  but  the  stream  soon  runs  dry.  A  dreary 
interval  of  drouth  and  dearth  succeeds.  I  have  known 
teachers,  gifted  and  brilliant,  who  would  thus  hold 
a  class  delighted  for  a  single  Sunday,  now  and  then, 
but  who,  for  want  of  method  and  persistence,  failed 
in  the  long  run.  It  is  not  the  large  gains,  but  the 
steady  gains,  that  make  rich.  There  is  a  wonderful 
power  in  simple  addition.  The  teacher  mu.st,  in 
this  sense,  act  on  the  principle  of  the  miser.  Ever}' 
week  have  some  new  thought  or  fact  or  illustration 
for  your  class.  Let  them  get  unconsciously  into  the 
habit  of  feeling  that  they  can  never  be  absent  with- 
out losing  something.  The  amount  of  new  matter 
contributed  each  week  may  not  be  large.  You  had 
better  not  attempt  to  make  it  large.  Only  be  sure 
that  each  week  you  teach  your  class  something  that 
they  did  not  know  before,  and  you  will  be  surprised 
at  the  end  of  a  year  to  see  how  much  they  have 
grown  in  knowledge.  You  will  find,  too,  that  your 
own  old  stock  of  ideas  is  running  put,  and  you  will 
need  to  keep  replenishing  yourself.  If  you  are  to 
teach  them  something  fresh  every  week,  you  must 
every  week  have  something  fresh  yourself. 

6.  Aiin  to  Teach  Sotnething  to  Every  Scholar. 
This  is  the  hardest  point  of  all,  and  the  one  least 
frequently  attained.     Every  class  has  some  scholars 


144  THE   TEACHER, 

who  are  dull,  inattentive,  indolent,  perhaps  posi- 
tively pei"verse.  Every  class  has  also  some  of  ex- 
actly the  opposite  character  to  that  just  described. 
The  temptation  is  strong  to  give  one's  time  to  these 
bright,  studious,  loving  pupils,  to  the  neglect  of  the 
others.  It  is  such  a  pleasure  to  teach  the  one  kind, 
it  is  such  a  toil  to  teach  the  other.  But  such  a 
course  is  not  v^ise  husbandry.  The  farmer  who 
would  gather  a  large  return  from  his  acres  does  not 
content  himself  with  having  a  few  heavy  ears  here 
and  there.  What  he  aims  at  is  to  have  some  sub- 
stantial returns  from  every  foot  of  soil.  The  droop- 
ing and  sickly  plants  are  the  ones  which  before  all 
others  receive  his  care.  The  hardy  and  vigorous 
plant  will  thrive  anyhow.  So  with  the  bright 
scholar.  You  are  almost  sure  he  will  learn.  Bend 
your  efforts,  then,  to  get  a  good  return  from  the  dull 
boys  and  girls.  If  you  succeed  with  them,  you  will 
not  fail  with  the  others.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  there 
is  any  child  in  your  class  who  habitually  learns 
nothing,  depend  upon  it,  that  child  will  soon  drop 
out  of  your  class.  The  very  best  method  for  pre- 
venting the  loss  of  scholars  is  to  see  that  every 
scholar  every  Sunday  learns  something  from  you. 
A  class  in  which  this  is  done  will  be  always  full. 
Old  scholars  stick  to  it,  new  scholars  are  glad  to  get 
into  it.  But  to  secure  such  an  end,  the  teacher  will 
find  that  he  has  need  not  only  of  making  it  a  special 
aim,  but  a  subject  of  much  special  study.  He  must 
acquaint  himself  with  the  disposition  and  the  intel- 


THE   TEACHER.  I45 

lectual  condition  of  each  scholar,  so  that  even  in  pre- 
senting the  same  truth  to  his  class,  he  must  have 
various  modes  of  doing  it,  one  suited  to  one  pupil 
and  one  suited  to  another,  and  he  must  keep  at  it 
until  every  one  is  reached. 

7-  Ai?n  to  Make  your  Instructions  Scriptural. 
The  Bible  is  our  text-book  in  the  Sunday-school.  The 
teacher  is  not  fulfilling  his  mission  who  occupies  the 
hours  of  the  Lord's  day  in  telling  anecdotes  and 
amusing  the  children  with  entertaining  stories. 
Children  may  be  held  inVapt  attention  all  the  hour, 
and  yet  go  away  no  wiser  in  Bible  knowledge. 
Where  an  apt  story  or  illustration  will  not  only  gain 
attention,  but  make  a  Bible  truth  plainer  to  the 
child's  apprehension,  or  fix  it  deeper  in  his  memory, 
the  use  of  such  a  story  or  illustration  is  commendable. 
But  in  our  Sunday-schools  we  have  a  great  deal  of 
story-telling  which  has  no  end  beyond  merely  keep- 
ing the  children  entertained.  There  is  also  occa- 
sionally a  teacher  who  aims  to  gain  the  attention  of 
his  scholars  by  giving  them  curious  scientific  and 
literary  information.  The  scholars  are  entertained 
and  pleased,  and  the  knowledge  gained  is  of  a  kind 
that  is  innocent  and  even  honorable.  But  it  is  not 
that  for  which  the  Sunday-school  was  instituted. 
The  teacher  should  aim  to  see  not  only  that  his  class 
is  learning  something,  that  they  are  learning  some- 
thing every  Sunday,  that  every  one  of  them  is  learn- 
ing, but  also  that  they  are  adding  to  their  know- 
ledge of  the  sacred  Scriptures. 
13  K 


146  THE    TEACHER. 

8.  Besides  a  Knowledge  of  the  Meaning  of  the 
Bible^  aim  to  get  your  Pupils  to  Store  up  a  Por- 
tion of  its  Very  Words.  In  our  Sunday-schools, 
and  in  all  our  schools  in  these  days,  we  are  going 
into  the  extreme  of  neglecting  the  cultivation  of  the 
memory.  Childhood  is  the  time  when  this  faculty 
should  receive  special  cultivation  and  development, 
and  in  the  whole  range  of  studies  to  which  a  child  is 
called,  there  is  none  that  gives  so  precious  a  field  for 
the  selection  of  passages  suitable  for  this  purpose. 
I  do  not  advocate  setting  children  to  committing  to 
memory  whole  books  of  the  Bible.  If  it  were  practi- 
cable for  them  to  know  the  whole  Bible  by  heart,  this 
plan  would  be  less  objectionable.  But  as  the  portion 
of  the  Bible  which  any  child  can  commit  is  compa- 
ratively small,  the  portions  thus  learned  should  be 
selected,  and  the  value  of  the  acquisitions  will 
usually  depend  very  much  upon  the  care  and  judg- 
ment of  the  teacher  in  making  a  selection.  A 
teacher  should  go  over  the  Bible  for  this  very  pur- 
pose, and  mark  passages  suitable  to  be  committed 
to  memory,  so  that  he  can  direct  a  child  at  once  to 
a  verse  or  verses  proper  to  his  particular  case.  It 
would  be  a  great  gain  if  we  paid  more  attention 
than  we  do  to  the  book  of  Proverbs.  A  few  of 
these  priceless  maxims — worldly  wisdom  coined  in 
heaven's  mint — stored  away  in  the  mind  of  the  child, 
might  save  the  man  from  many  a  ruinous  business 
mistake.  Psalms,  parables,  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  short  summaries  of  doctrine  from  the  Epis- 


THE    TEACHER.  147 

ties,  etc.,  should  be  thus  committed.  The  Bible  is 
full  of  passages,  sometimes  a  single  verse,  some- 
times a  paragraph,  just  fitted  for  storing  in  the  mem- 
ory. Teacher,  do  not  neglect  this  precious  oppor- 
tunity. Aim  to  secure  from  every  scholar,  every 
week,  the  committing  to  memory  of  some  portion 
of  God's  holy  word. 

9.  Ai77i  at  the  Conversion  of  your  Scholars. 
Until  this  is  accomplished  the  work  is  incomplete. 
Attendance,  lessons,  order,  everything,  is  subord- 
inate to  this,  and  mainly  valuable  as  an  auxiliary  to 
this.  "  How  shall  I  bring  this  child  to  the  saving 
knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ.'"'  is  the  burden  of  the 
true  teacher's  heart.  Not  "  How  shall  I  make  him 
well-mannered?"  or  "How  shall  I,  by  inculcating 
habits  of  order  and  industry,  improve  his  social 
condition  ?"  or  "  How  shall  I  preserve  him  from 
sickness  or  disease?"  but,  "How  shall  I  save  his 
soul  from  everlasting  death.? — how  shall  I  snatch 
him  as  a  brand  from  the  burning?" 

Teacher,  keep  this  great  aim  ever  before  you. 
Seek  the  conversion  of  your  children,  not  in  the  un- 
certain hereafter,  not  as  something  to  be  gained  by 
them  when  they  become  men  and  women,  but  now. 
Every  week,  seek  their  conversion  that  very  week. 
Seek  it,  not  in  the  spirit  of  dictation  to  the  Almighty, 
not  in  the  spirit  of  discontent,  but  in  earnest,  im- 
portunate, agonizing  prayer.  Seek  it  with  unutter- 
able longing.  Seek  it  in  hope,  as  something  to  be 
expected.     Seek  it  with  persevering  courage  against 


148  THE    TEACHER. 

every  disappointment.  Seek  it  in  the  use  of  every 
appropriate  and  available  means. 

Will  Sunday-school  teachers,  w^ill  parents,  v^ill 
the  church,  ever  really  wake  up  to  the  fact  that  chil- 
dren may  be  converted  just  as  easily  as  grow^n 
people,  nay,  far  more  easily.?  Will  the  time  ever 
come  when  the  means  and  energy  put  forth  for  the 
conversion  of  children  shall  be  truly  commensurate 
with  the  results  which  labors  for  the  young  ordinarily 
produce.?  We  do  something,  indeed,  in  their  be- 
half in  the  family  and  in  the  school.  Yet  after  all, 
down  deep  in  the  heart  of  the  Christian  Church  is 
the  yet  unshaken  belief — not  expressed,  perhaps — 
that  "Youth  is  not  the  time  to  serve  the  Lord." 
Notwithstanding  all  our  sayings  and  preachings  to 
the  contrary,  we  involuntarily  think  of  adult  age  as 
the  time  when  people  are  expected  to  be  converted. 
We  admit  that  children  may  become  Christians. 
But  when  a  case  does  occur,  we  regard  it  rather  as  a 
marvel,  as  something  out  of  the  common  way.  Is 
there  not  an  enormous  practical  delusion  on  this 
subject.?  Is  it  not  one  of  Satan's  most  gigantic  de- 
vices to  cheat  the  church  out  of  some  of  the  richest 
parts  of  her  inheritance.?  Has  the  church,  have 
parents  and  teachers,  anywhere,  gone  to  work  in 
downright  earnest,  as  they  would  do  in  any  similar 
case  where  a  temporal  or  a  worldly  interest  was  at 
stake .? 

The  several  aims  here  pointed  out  are  all  plain 
and  practical.     No  one  who  wishes  can  be  at  a  loss 


THE   TEACHER,  149 

to  know  whether  or  not  he  reaches  them.  I  recom- 
mend to  the  teacher  every  Sunday  evening  to  make 
a  written  register  of  progress.  Let  him  interrogate 
himself  honestly  how  far  he  has  that  day  succeeded 
in  each,  and  in  what  particulars  he  has  failed.  Tliis 
record  will  doubtless  show  many  failures.  But  it 
will  help  wonderfully  to  keep  him  to  his  work,  and 
he  will  ere  long  find  himself  substantially  and  surely 
reaching  what  he  aims  at. 

5.    The  Difference  between  Sunday-school  Teach- 
ing and  Teaching  in  other  Schools, 

In  many  things  teaching  is  the  same,  whatever  be 
the  subject,  the  time,  or  the  character  of  the  pupil. 
The  very  essence  of  teaching — which  is  simply  caus- 
ing one  to  know — is  and  must  be  the  same  under  all 
conditions.  While  admitting  this  to  its  fullest  ex- 
tent, I  think  it  important  also  to  note  that,  in  many 
of  its  processes,  teaching  is  a  most  variable  art.  One 
will  make  a  woeful  mistake  who  undertakes  to  teach 
children  as  he  would  teach  adults,  to  teach  in  the 
Sunday-school  exactly  as  he  teaches  in  the  weekday- 
school,  or  to  apply  to  the  teaching  of  religious  truth 
all  methods  that  may  be  proper  and  right  in  teaching 
arithmetic  and  geography. 

What  are  some  of  the  things  in  which  Sunday 
school  teaching  dilTers  from  other  teaching.? 

I.  In  the  first  place,  we  can  use  none  of  the  or- 
dinary school  penalties  for  compelling  attendance, 
attention  or  study  of  lessons.     Other  teachers  may 
13* 


150  THE    TEACHER. 

or  may  not  have  the  affection  of  their  scholars.  But 
to  the  Sunday-school  teacher  it  is  essential.  With- 
out the  love  of  his  scholars  he  can  do  nothing.  This 
is  his  only  hold  upon  them.  This  is  the  silken  rein 
by  which  he  must  draw  them.  He  may  curb  them 
to  some  extent  by  that  natural  authority  with  which 
God  has  clothed  some  minds  as  their  inalienable 
birthright.  But  beyond  this  he  cannot  go.  He  must 
make  up  his  mind,  therefore,  to  be  content  in  many 
cases  with  intellectual  results  far  short  of  what  he 
obtains  from  pupils  of  a  like  grade  on  other  days  of 
the  week.  Not* always,  however.  Love  is  a  great 
worker.  Under  its  influence,  with  no  other  prompt- 
ings, a  pupil  will  sometimes  achieve  a  progress 
truly  astonishing.  But  these  are  special  cases.  In 
the  main,  children  will  not  learn  their  Sunday  les- 
sons with  that  fulness,  exactness,  and  regularity 
which  are  expected,  and  which  may  be  eflectually 
required  of  their  lessons  on  the  other  days  in  the 
week.  Let  the  Sunday-school  teacher  aim,  indeed, 
to  secure  lessons  of  the  very  best  and  highest  charac- 
ter. But  if  he  comes  short  of  this  high  standard,  let 
him  not  be  discouraged,  or  think  that  his  teaching  is 
a  failure. 

2.  In  the  second  place,  religious  truth,  which  is 
the  subject  of  Sunday-school  instruction,  is  far  more 
directly  practical  than  the  truth  or  knowledge  which 
forms  the  subject  of  other  teachings.  A  youth  in 
the  weekday-school  studies  a  passage  in  Shakespeare 
or  Milton  for   the   sake  of  tracing  its  grammatical 


THE    TEACHER.  151 

construction,  or  its  poetical  beauty,  or  the  force  of 
its  argument,  or  the  derivation  and  power  of  par- 
ticuhir  words  and  phrases,  or  the  historical  allusions 
and  parallels.  He  solves  a  question  in  algebra  or 
arithmetic.  It  is  a  mere  mental  g3'mnastic.  It  has 
served  its  main  purpose  when  it  has  given  him  in- 
tellectual exercise,  and  the  intellectual  strength  and 
acumen  which  are  the  legitimate  fruit  of  that  exer- 
cise. But  far  ditferent  is  the  spirit  in  which  he 
should  approach  the  study  of  any  scriptural  subject. 
The  parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son  may,  indeed,  exer- 
cise his  intellect  and  his  fancy,  and  his  power  of  taste 
and  judgment,  as  mucli  as  any  work  of  art.  His 
main  object  and  aim  in  the  study,  however,  is  not 
mental  cultivation,  but  the  practical  application  of 
the  parable  to  his  own  conduct  and  condition.  What 
does  the  great  Teacher  mean  for  me  in  this  parable  .f* 
Wherein  am  /like  this  prodigal.'*  How  am  /to 
act  in  view  of  these  teachings.''  Noah's  flood,  or  the 
destruction  of  the  cities  of  the  plain,  finds  its  chief 
interest  as  a  Sunday  lesson  for  us,  not  in  its  geolog- 
ical explanations  or  history,  but  in  its  character  as  a 
religious  truth — an  alarming  demonstrat?ion  to  the 
conscience  that  God's  Spirit  will  not  always  strive 
w^ith  man.  All  Scripture  is  intended  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  man  in  practical  godliness,  and  we  miss  the 
main  intention  of  any  Sunday  lesson  when  we  secure 
only  an  intellectual  product.  We  aim,  indeed,  to 
secure  this,  but  only  as  a  means  of  securing  some- 
thing infinitely,  transcendently  greater. 


152  THE    TEACHER. 

Here  is  an  important  distinction  which  teachers 
would  do  well  to  ponder.  Do  not  teach  the  Gospel, 
or  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  or  any  part  of  Holy 
Writ,  as  you  would  teach  a  page  in  geography,  or  a 
chapter  in  the  history  of  the  United  States.  A  clear 
apprehension  of  the  facts  and  of  the  import  of  the 
language  used  is,  of  course,  the  first  requirement  in 
Bible  study.  But  that  is  only  a  preliminary  step  to 
the  main  lesson.  The  Bible  student  is  not  unlike  a 
soldier  on  the  field  of  battle  who  happens  to  be  a 
foreigner  unacquainted  with  the  language.  First  of 
all,  he  must  learn  the  import  of  the  word  of  com- 
mand. But  the  soldier  does  not  rest  there.  The 
command  is  something  to  be  done  as  well  as  known. 
So  all  Bible  knowledge,  so  far  as  it  is  religious 
knowledge  at  all,  and  a  fit  subject  for  Sunday  study, 
is  practical  knowledge.  It  is  something  to  be  done. 
It  is  something  which  employs  the  intellect  only  as 
an  avenue  for  reaching  the  conscience. 

3.  In  the  third  place,  in  the  Sunday-school,  care 
should  be  taken,  more  even  than  in  the  weekday 
school,  to  store  the  memory.  This  is  not  a  differ- 
ence so  mi»ch  in  kind  as  in  degree.  In  all  teaching 
it  is  important,  after  certain  results  are  reached  and 
clearly  established,  to  store  them  ujo  in  the  mind  in 
the  form  of  rules,  maxims  or  principles.  It  is  well 
to  commit  to  memory  the  exact  words  in  which 
weighty  truths  have  been  expressed  by  the  great, 
leading  minds  of  the  race.  But  in  the  Bible  we 
have  the  most  momentous  truths  expressed  in  the 


THE    TEACHER.  153 

words  of  God  himself — the  truths  of  salvation  in  the 
words  of  Him  who  is  the  author  of  salvation.  The 
young  cannot  be  too  diligent  in  treasuring  up  these 
precious  words  in  the  memory.  What  a  fund  of 
practical  worldly  wisdom  is  contained  in  the  prov- 
erbs of  Solomon  !  What  priceless  texts  for  every 
emergency  of  religious  experience  in  the  psalms  of 
David  !  What  words  of  consolation,  of  warning,  of 
prayer,  of  faith,  of  hope,  in  the  Gospels  and  the  Epis- 
tles !  Everywhere  in  the  Bible,  tucked  away  often 
among  mere  historical  or  ceremonial  details,  are  pre- 
cious phrases,  like  detached  nuggets  of  virgin  gold, 
which  should  be  seized  upon  and  laid  up  for  use. 
Of  course,  in  studying  the  Bible,  we  proceed  in  many 
particulars  as  we  do  in  other  studies.  But,  in  my 
opinion,  there  is  no  study  in  which  we  should  use 
the  memory  so  freely  and  so  largely. 

I  fear  there  has  been  on  this  point  a  serious  and 
hurtful  departure  from  the  good  old  ways.  I  fear 
there  is  not  as  much  as  there  once  was  of  commit- 
ting to  memory  the  sacred  Scriptures.  Will  teachers 
and  parents  look  to  this  matter? 

6 .    Class-  Teach ing. 

By  class-teaching  I  mean  teaching  a  considerable 
number  at  once,  as  distinguished  from  teaching  one 
at  a  time.  It  is  not  uncommon  to  see  teachers  with 
large  classes  who  yet  never  do  any  real  class-teach- 
ing. Such  a  teacher  will  hear  Johnny  say  his  verses, 
and    perhaps   give   him   some   explanation   of  their 


154  THE    TEACHER. 

meaning,  will  then  hear  Jimmy  say  an  answer  in 
the  catechism,  then  Charley  say  a  hymn  which  he 
has  learned,  and  so  on,  taking  one  scholar  at  a  time, 
until  the  class  is  finished.  This  is  teaching  ifi  a 
class,  but  it  is  not  class-teaching.  The  distinction  is 
something  more  than  a  mere  play  upon  words.  It 
involves  facts  of  the  gravest  import.  I  fear  there 
are  more  teachers  following  the  individual  method 
than  superintendents  generally  are  aware — teachers, 
I  mean,  who  never  teach  a  class  as  such,  but  give 
instruction  successively  and  separately  to  one  after 
another  in  a  class. 

I  hold  it  to  be  the  duty  of  the  superintendent  to 
look  into  this  matter  by  personal  observation,  and 
wherever  a  teacher  is  found  who  can  teach  by  the 
individual  method  only — that  is,  one  at  a  time — I  do 
not  say  the  superintendent  should  dispense  with  the 
services  of  such  a  teacher,  but  he  should  feel  bound, 
so  far  as  this  method  is  allowed  to  prevail  in  his 
school,  to  provide  as  many  teachers  as  there  are 
scholars.  Every  Scholar  has  a  claim  to  instruction 
all  the  time  he  is  in  school.  If  a  teacher  has  ten 
scholars  and  follows  this  method  with  them,  he 
has  what  appears  to  be  a  class,  but  it  is  really  ten 
classes. 

Class-teaching  consists  in  making  a  unit  of  all  the 
scholars,  no  matter  how  many,  who  are  under  one 
teacher.  The  ability  of  teachers  differs  in  this.  One 
teacher  can  make  a  unit  of  twenty,  another  of  ten, 
another  of  five,  another  of  three,  while  some,  and 


THE    TEACHER.  155 

their  number  is  larger  than  is  generally  supposed, 
can  teach  but  one,  or  at  the  most  but  two,  at  a  time. 
Nothing  is  gained  by  assigning  to  a  teacher  more 
scholars  than  he  can  keep  occupied  all  the  time. 
The  school  may  have  a  prettier  appearance,  perhaps, 
when  the  scholars  are  evenly  distributed  by  sevens 
or  eights  all  over  the  room.  But  for  the  real  benefit 
of  the  scholars,  it  is  better  to  assign  to  some  teachers 
but  one  or  two  scholars  apiece,  and  to  others  twenty 
or  thirty,  if  thereby  all  the  scholars  are  fully  occu- 
pied all  the  time.  A  teacher  is  overloaded  the  mo- 
ment he  has  a  single  scholar  more  than  he  can  keep 
fully  occupied.  Every  teacher  should  ascertain,  or 
the  superintendent  should  ascertain  for  him,  exactly 
how  many  he  can  thus  weld  into  one,  and  every 
scholar  added  to  the  class  after  it  has  reached  that 
limit  should  be  considered  as  so  much  material 
wasted. 

Of  course  there  may  be  real  teaching  and  good 
teaching  by  the  individual  method.  Rich  people 
sometimes  employ  a  private  tutor  to  devote  his  whole 
time  to  the  instruction  of  one  child.  But  such  in- 
struction is  enormously  expensive.  Besides  that,  ex- 
cept in  special  cases,  it  is  less  valuable  to  the  pupil 
than  instruction  received  in  genuine  class-teaching. 
In  the  latter,  the  pupil  receives  a  stimulus  from  his 
fellows  which  is  wanting  in  the  other  case.  Recit- 
ing by  one's  self  to  a  private  tutor  is  dull  and  stupe- 
fying work  compared  to  the  brisk,  breezy,  bracing 
exercises  of  a  class. 


156  THE   TEACHER. 

It  is  not  an  easy  task  to  hold  at  all  times  the  atten- 
tion of  an  entire  class,  so  that  whatever  the  teacher 
says  to  one  is  said  equally  to  all,  and  whatever  any 
one  scholar  says  is  heard  and  shared  in  by  all.  Yet 
nothing  short  of  this  can  claim  to  be  class-teaching. 
The  entire  intellectual  activity  of  both  teacher  and 
scholars  is  concentrated  upon  a  single  point,  and  this 
concentration,  like  that  of  the  sun's  rays  brought  to 
a  focus  by  a  convex  lens,  gives  heat  as  well  as  light. 
Truths  glow  with  brightness  and  shine  into  the  soul 
with  a  certain  piercing  vigor  when  a  considerable 
number  of  minds,  all  wide  awake,  are  united  as  one 
mind  in  the  examination  of  a  subject.  To  produce 
this  concentration,  to  weld  five,  or  ten,  or  twenty,  or 
fifty  young  minds  into  one,  to  arrest  at  once  the  least 
wandering  of  attention,  requires  no  little  skill.  It  is 
the  first  and  most  indispensable  requisite  in  the 
teacher's  art. 

The  object  of  classification  in  a  school  is  to  en- 
able the  teacher  to  do  class-teaching.  The  more 
thoroughly  this  object  is  accomplished,  the  greater 
will  be  the  general  improvement  and  efiiciency  of 
the  school.  No  teacher  should  rest  contented  until 
he  has  achieved  some  success  in  this  line.  It  is  a 
matter  in  which  improvement  is  capable  of  almost 
infinite  degrees.  The  best  way  for  one  who  is  con- 
scious of  being  deficient  in  this  respect  is  to  begin 
with  a  small  number  and  increase  it  as  you  acquire 
the  power.  When  you  have  learned  to  control 
thoroughly  the   attention   of   five    scholars,   try   six. 


THE   TEACHER.  157 

When  you  are  master  of  six,  try  seven.  Let  it  be 
your  ambition  to  see  how  many  young  minds  you 
can  wield  as  one,  remembering  that  you  multiply 
yourself  by  every  one  added  to  the  number  of  your 
scholars.  If  during  the  entire  hour  you  can  wield 
the  undivided  attention  of  twenty  pupils,  you  are 
virtually  making  yourself  twenty  teachers.  You  are 
at  least  making  yourself  equal  to  twenty  of  those 
who  teach  by  the  individual  method. 

To  gain  this  power,  the  first  requisite  is  a  resolute, 
determined  aim  to  do  it.  Mere  wishing  it  or  fretting 
about  it  will  not  compass  the  end.  Set  about  it  in 
good  earnest,  and  be  willing  to  make  some  sacrifices 
in  order  to  accomplish  it.  Entire,  absolute  famil- 
iarity with  what  you  are  going  to  teach  is  another 
requisite.  The  teacher  who  wishes  to  control  the 
attention  of  a  class  must  know  the  lesson  so  thor- 
oughly as  to  be  able  to  teach  it  without  book.  This 
is  an  inexorable  condition  of  success.  Close  your 
book  before  you  begin  to  teach  if  you  wish  to  put 
forth  any  teaching  power.  Thus  only  can  you  bring 
your  mind  into  living  contact  and  sympathy  with  the 
minds  before  you. 

7.    How  to  Question  a    Class. 

Skill  in  the  art  of  questioning  is  a  qualification 
for  the  teacher's  office  of  the  very  highest  importance. 
In  the  long  catalogue  of  things  required  there  is 
hardly  one  that  should  be  set  higher.  It  cannot, 
therefore,  be  too  much  insisted  on  or  too  much  dis- 
14 


158  THE   TEACHER, 

cussed.     I  shall  offer  a  few  thoughts  on  the  subject 
for  the  consideration  of  teachers. 

I.  In  the  first  place,  the  teacher  who  expects  to 
excel  in  this  particular  must  make  up  his  mind  that 
the  gift  referred  to  is  really  a  most  valuable  and  im- 
portant attainment.  No  other  quality  can  supply 
its  place  in  the  peculiar  power  of  awakening,  guid- 
ing and  moulding  the  minds  of  others.  Eloquence 
and  learned  discourse  can  do  much  in  producing  an 
impression,  and  of  course  are  not  to  be  underrated. 
But  the  peculiarity  of  the  influence  exerted  by  skill 
in  the  art  of  questioning  is  that  it  goes  directly  to  the 
very  roots  of  the  soul,  so  to  speak.  It  operates  in 
the  formation  of  opinion,  in  the  growth  of  intellect- 
ual power,  and  in  the  increase  of  knowledge,  in  a 
way  altogether  peculiar  to  itself,  with  a  directness 
and  energy  unattainable  by  other  methods  of  instruc- 
tion. The  prodigious  influence  exerted  by  the  late 
Dr.  Archibald  Alexander,  of  Princeton,  upon  the 
mind  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United 
States  was  not  due  so  much  to  his  lectures  in  the 
theological  seminary,  for  he  lectured  comparatively 
little,  nor  to  his  published  theological  works,  which 
are  lamentably  few,  but  to  his  wonderful  power  as  a 
catechist.  In  the  theological  class-room  it  seemed 
as  if  there  was  not  a  thought  or  a  perplexity  in  the 
mind  of  any  student  which  did  not  lie  open  to  the 
penetrating  ken  of  the  professor,  not  a  power  of 
thinking  which  the  professor  did  not  stimulate  into 
lively  acfion.     He  seemed  to  touch,  as  if  with  the 


THE   TEACHER.  159 

wand  of  an  enchanter,  all  the  hidden  springs  of 
thought,  and  whatever  of  mental  power  was  in  a 
man  came  forth.  It  was  thus  he  moulded  and  de- 
veloped all  those  great  minds  which  have  exerted, 
and  which  are  now  exerting,  such  a  controlling  in- 
fluence upon  the  destinies  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in  America.  Dr.  Alexander,  like  Socrates  among 
the  ancients,  has  written  comparatively  little.  But 
his  power  as  a  teacher  was  second  to  none,  not  even 
to  that  of  Socrates,  arid  it  will  go  on  perpetuating 
and  reproducing  itself  for  ages  to  come. 

It  is  not  expected,  of  course,  that  every  teacher 
will  have  the  gifts  of  Dr.  Alexander.  But  his  exam- 
ple is  worthy  of  study  as  showing  the  kind  of  excel- 
lence desired,  and  also  the  prodigious  results  of 
which  it  is  capable.  It  is  no  ordinaiy  matter,  like 
some  of  the  mechanical  details  of  the  teacher's  work; 
but  something  of  first-class  importance. 

2.  In  the  second  place,  the  teacher,  after  having 
risen  to  a  due  sense  of  the  importance  of  this  gift 
and  a  corresponding  desire  for  its  attainment,  should 
define  clearly  in  his  own  mind  the  true  object  of  the 
art  of  questioning  as  a  teaching  power.  It  is  not 
uncommon  to  see  teachers,  in  asking  questions,  pro- 
ceed as  if  the  sole  object  of  the  exercise  was  to  find 
out  and  record  how  much  the  scholar  had  learned 
before  coming  to  the  class.  Such  a  teacher  uncon- 
sciously puts  himself  in  the  attitude  of  a  public  pros- 
ecutor or  of  a  detective  policeman.  His  questions 
are  formed  with  a  view  to  find  out  whether  the  pupil 


l6o  THE    TEACHER. 

has  exercised  due  diligence  in  learning  the  lesson, 
and  to  know  exactly  how  much  of  merit  or  demerit 
to  mete  out  to  him  in  the  roll-book.  Now  this  is  to 
lower  the  whole  affair — to  mistake  and  ignore  the 
true  nature  of  the  teacher's  office.  Of  course,  it  is 
of  prime  importance  that  the  scholars  should  prepare 
and  study  the  lesson  before  coming  to  the  class,  and 
a  proper  record  of  faithfulness  or  unfaithfulness  in 
this  respect  is  among  the  legitimate  means  of  stim- 
ulating scholars  to  study.  I  believe  in  recitation 
marks.  Their  influence,  when  rightly  used,  is  per- 
vasive and  beneficent.  But  after  all,  they  are  to  be 
reckoned  as  the  mint,  anise  and  cummin,  and  not 
among  the  weightier  matters. 

The  true  object  in  questioning  in  class  is  not  so 
much  to  ascertain  the  present  amount  of  their  know- 
ledge as  to  increase  it.  It  is  to  awaken  thought,  to 
bring  up  suggestive  inquiries  into  their  minds,  to 
deepen  impressions  of  truth  already  received,  to 
bring  into  clear  and  sharp  outline  what  is  now  seen 
but  dimly  and  obscurely.  It  is  a  sifting  process,  by 
which  the  pupils  are  enabled  to  let  go  the  chaff  and 
to  hold  fast  the  pure  wheat.  Qiiestioning,  properly 
conducted,  produces  a  sort  of  intellectual  ferment  in 
the  minds  of  the  class  which  is  very  favorable  to  the 
acquisition  of  new  truths.  Mind  is  a  curious  ma- 
chine, working  according  to  laws  of  its  own ;  and 
one  of  those  laws  is,  that  a  certain  amount  of  excite- 
ment is  necessary  to  the  rapid  and  sure  apprehension 
of  knowledge.     A  truth,  a  sentence,  a  single  word 


THE    TEACHER.  l6l 

dropped  into  the  mind  just  at  the  right  moment, 
when  its  powers  of  eager  inquiry  and  lively  appre- 
hension are  all  in  the  highest  state  of  activity,  will 
produce  a  greater  fructifying  effect  than  any  con- 
ceivable amount  of  dull,  plodding  routine'  over 
lessons. 

Nor  should  the  teacher  make  the  mistake,  which 
many  make,  of  supposing  that  the  mind  of  a  child  is 
merely  a  fountain,  and  the  questioning  process  is  a 
sort  of  pump,  and  that  by  a  due  working  of  the 
machine  knowledge  can  be  drawn  out.  Knowledge 
is  never  drawn  out  unless  it  has  first  been  taken  in 
Mind  is  a  power,  and  the  business  of  the  teacher  is 
to  stir  up  that  power.  When  knowledge  has  once 
entered  the  mind,  it  is  indeed  important  that  it  should 
be  again  given  out.  The  reproduction  of  our  know- 
ledge in  intelligible  form  is  as  important  to  us  as  is 
the  first  taking  of  it  in.  We  get  an  idea,  and  then 
we  give  it  out.  In  all  true  teaching  the  two  pro- 
cesses go  together.  The  one  is  the  complement  of 
the  other.  Direct,  positive  inculcation  should  al 
ways  accompany  questioning.  Pour  Th  as  well  as 
draw  out.     Draw  out  what  you  pour  in. 

The  main  end,  then,  of  questioning  a  class  is  not 
to  register  progress,  but  to  promote  it — to  stir  up 
mental  activity  and  add  to  the  pupil's  stock  of  know- 
ledge. No  matter  how  studious  a  scholar  may  be,  or 
how  faithful  may  have  been  his  preparation,  he  will 
come  away  from  the  recitation,  if  it  has  been  rightly 
conducted,  knowing  more  than  he  did.  One  hour 
14*  L 


1 62  THE    TEACHER. 

of  recitation  ouglit  to  be  worth  three  hours  of  soli- 
tary study. 

3.  How  shall  a  teacher  question  a  class  so  as  to 
bring  about  this  result? 

In 'the, first  place,  he  must  not  limit  himself  to  the 
questions  in  the  question-book.  To  sit  down  before 
a  class  and  read  questions  out  of  a  book  is  about  the 
dullest  and  most  stupid,  as  well  as  most  stupefying, 
process  ever  attempted.  Better  that  every  question- 
book  in  print  were  with  Pharaoh's  chariots  at  the 
bottom  of  the  Red  Sea  than  that  such  a  process  of 
hearing  lessons  should  fix  itself  upon  our  schools. 
The  question-book  has  its  place,  but  that  place  is 
not  in  the  school-room  or  the  class.  The  sole  object 
of  the  question-book  is  to  help  in  preparing  the 
lesson.  Neither  teacher  nor  scholar  should  be  al- 
lowed to  bring  one  to  school  ;  or  if  brought  to  school, 
they  should  be  gathered  up*  and  carefully  piled  away 
before  the  lesson  begins.  What  if  the  teacher  in 
catechising  the  clgss  does  forget  to  ask  some  of  the 
questions,  or  asks  them  in  a  different  order  from  that 
in  the  book,  or  asks  them  in  different  words  .^  Ten 
questions  springing  up  as  the  course  of  inquiry  sug- 
gests, while  teacher  and  scholars  are  engaged  in 
earnest  conversa-tion,  fjice  to  face,  eye  to  eye,  are 
worth  fifty  questions  put  and  answered  in  the  usual 
humdrum  style. 

In  the  second  place,  the  teacher  who  would  ques- 
tion his  class  with  skill  and  effect  must  be  thoroughly 
at  home  in  the  lesson.     He  must  not  only  know  the 


THE    TEACUER.  163 

fiicts  and  truths  which  it  involves,  but  he  must  be 
famih'ar  with  thcni.  He  must  know  them  as  he 
knows  the  road  to  school.  It  is  on  this  point  more 
than  any  other  that  teachers  fail.  They  think  if 
tliey  go  over  a  lesson  and  study  out  all  its  hard 
points,  so  as  to  understand  them,  they  are  prepared. 
It  is  a  mistake.  Study  the  hard  points,  of  course^. 
But  what  you  chiefly  want  is  familiarity  with  the 
easy  points.  In  order  to  teach  you  must  have  your 
knowledge  not  safely  laid  away  in  some  remote  re- 
cess of  the  understanding — in  some  underground 
magazine  of  your  intellectual  fortress — but  brought 
forward  into  the  very  outworks,  ready  for  instant 
handling  and  use — on  the  tip  of  your  tongue  and  the 
tip  of  your  fingers,  talking  and  chalking,  asking  and 
telling,  just  as  the  emergency  of  each  successive  mo- 
ment calls  for. 

In  the  third  place,  get  back  from  your  scholars  all 
you  give  them.  It  is  implied  in  the  very  idea  of 
teaching  that  you  communicate  to  your  scholars  some 
new  ideas — some  facts  or  thoughts  which  they  did 
not  know  before.  Now  this  process  is  incomplete 
until  you  induce  the  class  to  reproduce  and  give  back 
to  you  in  some  intelligible  form  what  you  have  thus 
given  them.  The  knowledge  is  really  not  theirs 
until  they  have  reproduced  it  and  given  it  expres- 
sion. They  may  have  some  vague  idea  or  transient 
impression  in  regard  to  it.  Butthey  do  not  grasp  it 
with  firm  hold  or  with  a  clear  and  lasting  apprehen- 
sion until  they  have  expressed  it  in  language.     This 


164  THE    TEACHER. 

is  one  of  the  laws  of  mental  action.  We  fix  a  thing 
in  our  minds  by  communicating  it  to  another ;  we 
make  it  plain  to  oui»selves  by  the  very  eftbrt  to  give  it 
explanation.  Or,  to  state  the  matter  still  more  para- 
doxically, we  learn  a  thing  by  telling  it  to  somebody, 
we  keep  it  by  giving  it  away.  The  only  way  to  be 
sure  that  your  scholars  are  learning  from  you  is  to 
get  them  to  tell  you  back  all  you  have  told  them. 
The  teacher  who  does  all  the  talking,  or  even  the 
greater  part  of  it,  is  making  a  mistake.  You 
may  talk  very  well,  your  scholars  may  hang  with 
rapt  attention  upon  3^our  lips,  and  yet  you  may 
be  making  a  huge  mistake.  You  are  attempting  to 
».make  a  web  that  is  all  warp.  Fill  in  the  woof,  if 
you  would  make  a  texture  that  will  hang  together. 
Let  the  long  yarns  of  your  discourse  be  constantly 
crossed  and  recrossed  by  the  swift-flying  shuttle  of 
question  and  answer,  if  you  would  be  a  weaver  wor- 
thy of  the  name. 

In  the  fourth  place,  do  not  ask  your  questions 
regularly  round  the  class,  but  skip  about,  taking  first 
one  scholar  and  then  another,  without  following  any 
regular  order,  only  being  sure  to  light  down  on  any 
one  that  is  inattentive,  and  being  sure  also  to  call 
on  every  one  in  the  course  of  the  lesson,  the  dull 
as  well  as  the  bright,  the  lazy  as  well  as  the  dili- 
gent. Do  not  pride  yourself  upon  puzzling  your 
scholars  and  asking  questions  which  none  of  them 
can  answer.  You  may  take  this  method  some- 
times, perhaps,  to  check  a  child  that  is  forward  or 


THE    TEACHER.  165 

pert.  But  such  cases  are  rare  compared  with  those 
who  are  timid  and  who  need  encouragement.  Be 
prepared,  therefore,  with  easy  questions  as  well  as 
with  hard  ones,  and  have  something  to  ask  which 
any  one  in  the  class,  even  the  dullest  and  the  most 
timid,  can  answer.  The  questioning  power  is  not 
perfect  which  is  not  able  to  unloose  every  tongue  in 
the  class. 

8.    How  to   Conduct  a  Recitation. 

I.  Closing  the  Books.  Let  the  teacher  begin  by 
closing  his  own  book,  and  by  collecting  and  piling 
up  all  the  books  of  every  kind  in  the  class.  I  have 
no  objection  to  hearing  a  preacher  or  a  lecturer  read 
a  discourse.  But  when  it  comes  to  teaching,  no 
reading  either  by  teacher  or  scholar  should  be  toler- 
ated. The  teacher  is  there  not  to  read  something 
out  of  a  book,  but  to  tell  the  scholars  something  that 
he  knows.  The  scholars  are  there  not  to  read  an- 
swers out  of  a  book,  but  to  recite  answers  which 
they  have  prepared.  They  are  to  tell  the  teacher 
their  thoughts,  either  in  language  committed  to 
memory  from  the  book,  or  in  their  own  language,  in 
order  that  their  answers  may  be  canvassed  by  the 
teacher  and  compared  with  his  views.  The  teacher 
may  say,  perhaps,  that,  in  attempting  to  conduct  a 
recitation  without  referring  to  the  book,  he  is  likely 
to  omit  many  of  the  questions,  or  not  to  call  them  in 
the  order  in  which  they  occur.  I  think  this  is  alto- 
gether probable.     But  the  questions,  be  it  remem- 


1 66  THE    TEACHER. 

bered,  are  to  study  by,  not  to  recite  by.  They  help 
the  teacher  to  fill  his  mind  with  the  subject ;  there 
their  function  ends.  Coming  to  hjs  class  with  his 
mind  thus  full,  it  is  of  little  matter  whether  he  fol- 
lows the  order  of  the  book  or  not,  or  whether  he 
goes  through  all  the  minutiae  in  the  book  or  not. 
He  will  find  himself  in  possession  of  ample  materials 
to  fill  up  all  the  time  at  his  disposal.  This  hand-to- 
hand  encounter  between  scholars  and  teacher,  in 
discussing  the  meaning  of  a  lesson,  is  unlike  any 
other  mental  process  that  we  ever  go  through,  and 
is,  of  all  our  mental  processes,  the  one  most  vital- 
izing ;  neither  solitary  study,  nor  listening  to  dis- 
courses and  lectures,  is  comparable  to  it  in  the 
quickening  effect  which  it  has  upon  the  mental 
faculties.  It  is  of  the  very  essence  of  teaching. 
Nothing  else  is  teaching. 

2.  Reciting  the  Verses.  Having  closed  his  own 
book  and  collected  and  closed  the  books  of  the 
class,  let  the  teacher  next  have  the  Bible  verses  re- 
cited which  form  the  subject  of  the  lesson.  And 
here  will  come  a  real  difficulty.  At  first,  especially, 
the  scholars  will  not  know  the  verses.  One  of  the 
most  difficult  things,  nowadays,  in  the  whole  work  of 
the  school-room,  whether  in  the  Sunday-school  or  in 
other  schools,  is  to  get  the  young  to  commit  anything 
to  memory.  The  current  seems  to  have  all  set  the 
other  way,  and  whoever  attempts  the  thing  named 
will  find  himself  working  his  way  up  stream.  Never- 
theless, it  is  worth  the  effort,  and  if  he  persists,  he 


THE    TEACHER.  1 67 

will  in  the  end  succeed.  And  in  this  matter  of  re- 
citing tiie  verses  the  teacher  himself  should  set  the 
example.  The  first  thing  he  ought  to  do,  in  prepar- 
ing the  lesson,  is  to  commit  to  memory  the  passage 
which  he  is  to  expound.  The  lessons,  as  marked 
oti'  in  our  question-books,  seldom  exceed  a  dozen 
verses,  and  surely  there  is  no  one  so  busy  or  so  dull 
of  recollection  as  not  to  be  able  to  learn  that  much 
in  the  course  of  the  week.  Let  the  teacher,  in  this 
part  of  the  exercise,  set  the  example,  not  only  in 
committing  the  verses  to  memory,  but  in  reciting 
them.  If  they  are  recited  verse  about,  each  mem.ber 
of  the  class  saying  one,  let  the  teacher  take  his  turn 
with  the  rest.  If  he  happens  to  have  a  class  no  one 
of  which  has  learned  the  verses,  let  him  recite  the 
"Whole  !  Such  an  example  will  shame  the  scholars 
into  learning  some  verses  at  least.  The  first  and 
most  earnest  and  most  persistent  effort  of  the  Sunday- 
school  teacher  should  be-  directed  to  this  end  ;  that 
is,  to  securing  from  his  scholars  an  accurate  and 
prompt  recital  from  memory  of  the  verses  which 
form  the  body  of  the  lesson. 

3.  Hunting  up  the  Iveferc??ces.  Have  some 
method  about  hunting  up  passages  or  places  which 
are  referred  to  in  the  lesson,  or  which  come  up  for 
remark  or  illustration  in  the  course  of  the  exercises. 
A  good  plan  is  to  have  by  you  a  Bible,  a  vScripture 
atlas,  and  a  Bible  dictionar}',  and  whenever  a  ques- 
tion arises  in  the  course  of  the  conversation  between 
the  teacher  and  the  scholars  about  some    place   01 


1 68  THE    TEACHER. 

person  or  passage  of  Scripture,  and  it  is  desirable  to 
have  the  matter  settled  by  a  reference  to  tli*  book, 
do  not  delay  the  class  or  yourself  by  stopping  to  hunt 
up  the  thing  referred  to,  but  selecting  some  one  of 
the  class  for  this  purpose,  and  giving  him  the  book 
to  make  the  search,  go  on  to  some  topic  until  he  is 
ready  to  report.  As  soon  as  he  has  found  the  in- 
formation required,  a  pause  can  be  made  in  the  re- 
citation, and  he  or  you  can  read  or  show  to  the  class 
the  result  of  his  inquiries.  The  task  of  making  these 
searches  should  not  always  be  assigned  to  the  same 
pupil,  but  should  be  distributed,  first  to  one  and 
then  to  another,  so  that  all  in  turn  may  share  in  the 
exercise.  By  such  a  process  two  important  ends 
are  gained.  The  time  of  the  class  is  economized, 
and  the  members  are  gradually  trained  to  familiar- 
ity and  skill  in  the  use  of  books  of  reference.  It 
would  not  be  amiss  to  have  by  you,  besides  the 
three  books  which  have  been  named,  a  good  Eng- 
lish dictionary,  such  as  the  latest  edition  of  Webster's 
octavo.  Qiiestions  often  arise  in  a  Sunday-school 
class  about  the  pronunciation  or  the  meaning  of  a 
word,  and  it  is  well  to  settle  it  authoritatively  and  on 
the  spot. 

4.  Skipping  About.  In  every  part  of  the  exer- 
cise, whether  in  reciting  the  verses  or  in  answering 
questions,  never  go  round  the  class  in  regular  order, 
but  skip  about  from  one  to  another,  so  that  no  or.e 
may  know  when  he  is  to  be  called  upon.  Propourd 
a   question   first,  clearly  and   distinctly,  so   that  all 


THE    TEACHER.  1 69 

can  hear,  and  try  to  make  all  hear  it,  and  then  select 
and  designate  the  one  who  is  to  give  the  answer. 
If  you  see  a  scholar  inattentive  and  listless,  or  giving 
his  attention  to  something  else,  let  that  be  an  invari- 
able reason  for  putting  the  question  to  him.  If  you 
do  not  succeed  in  getting  an  answer  from  him,  you 
will  succeed  in  recalling  his  attention.  Have  in 
your  mind  a  number  of  easy  questions  which  almost 
everybody  can  answer.  In  nearly  every  class  are 
some  who  are  timid,  or  who  are  slow  of  comprehen- 
sion, or  slow  of  speech,  and  they  are  apt  to  fall  into 
thp  idea  that  nothing  is  to  be  done  by  them,  nothing 
is  expected  of  them.  They  need  encouragement, 
and  there  is  no  way  of  encouraging  them  equal  to 
that  of  giving  them  something  to  do  which  they  can 
do.  Do  not  let  all  the  talking  and  reciting  be  done 
by  a  few  bright  scholars,  but  see  that  something  is 
said  or  done  by  every  one,  the  dullest  and  most 
timid  as  well  as  the  most  sprightly  and  forward. 

5.  Kecpi?ig  all  the  Class  Engaged.  Aim  to 
have  the  attention  of  all  your  scholars  all  the  time. 
Do  not  make  the  mistake  of  some  teachers  who  seem 
to  think  that  they  are  to  break  up  their  time  into 
little  doses,  giving  first  two  or  three  minutes  to  one, 
and  then  two  or  three  minutes  to  another,  and  so  on 
round  the  class.  Aim  to  keep  your  own  mind  and 
that  of  your  class  filled  with  the  idea  that  everything 
which  you  say,  and  also  everything  which  one  of 
the  scholars  says,  is  said  not  to  an  individual,  but  to 
the  class,  that  the  whole  thing,  in  every  one  of  its 
15 


170  THE    TEACHER. 

parts,  is  a  class  exercise,  addressed  to  and  belonging 
to  the  class  as  a  whole,  and  not  to  any  one  indi- 
vidual. To  this  end  always  place  yourself,  whether 
sitting  or  standing,  in  such  a  way  that  your  eyes  can 
command  every  part  of  the  class.  Some  teachers 
place  themselves  so  close  to  the  class  that  a  part 
of  the  line  of  pupils  overlaps  them  to  the  right  and 
left,  and  so  is  out  of  the  line  of  vision  and  of  direct 
communication.  Such  a  thing  may  seem  to  some  to 
be  a  small  matter,  but  it  is  of  great  importance  in 
securing  entire  and  undivided  attention  from  the 
class. 

6.  Making  the  Scholai's  do  the  Talking.  Aim 
to  get  your  scholars  to  talk,  rather  than  to  talk  your- 
self. Of  course  the  teacher  must  have  something  to 
say.  But  many  teachers  err  in  doing  all  the  talking. 
It  is  by  telling  a  thing,  by  explaining  it  to  others,  by 
giving  expression  to  it  in  words,  that  it  becomes 
clearly  defined  and  fixed  in  our  own  mind.  This  is 
one  of  the  laws  of  mental  action,  and  this  is  one  rea- 
son that  people  learn  faster  by  reciting  and  by  cate- 
chetical instruction  than  by  listening  to  lectures. 
However  fluent  we  may  be  in  conducting  a  recitation, 
our  scholars  are  learning  little  from  us  unless  we 
manage  to  unjoose  their  tongues  as  well  as  ours.  In 
all  good  teaching  there  is  the  joint  action  of  the 
teacher's  mind  and  of  the  scholar's  mind.  It  can 
never  be  a  one-sided  process.  Give  the  scholar  the 
needed  information  if  he  is  destitute  of  it,  but  make 
him  give  it  back  to  you  in  words.     Be  sure  he  has 


THE    TEACHER.  171 

not  made  it  his  own  until  he  has  thus  reproduced  it 
Draw  out  and  pour  in.  Pour  in  and  draw  out. 
This,  as  I  have  said  before,  is  the  sum  of  the  whole 
matter. 

9.    Teaching   Out  of  Book. 

Imagine  a  company  of  soldiers,  raw  recruits, 
standing  up  to  drill.  The  captain  is  undertaking  to 
teach  them  the  complicated  bodily  movements  con- 
nected with  facing,  wheeling,  marching  and  hand- 
ling their  weapons.  Imagine  him  standing,  book  in 
hand,  and  perhaps  spectacles  on  his  nose,  and  finger 
on  the  line  to  keep  the  place,  carefully  reading  the 
word  of  command,  then  looking  off  the  book  to  see 
the  movement  of  the  soldiers,  then  looking  back  at 
the  book  to  read  the  description  of  the  movement 
and  see  whether  it  corresponds  to  the  way  in  which 
the  soldiers  have  executed  it,  then  proceeding  to  the 
next  movement,  and  so  on  through  the  whole  manual 
of  arms  and  book  of  military  tactics.  Is  there  any 
one  that  would  not  pronounce  the  whole  proceeding 
absurd  ? 

Yet  this  is  precisely  w^hat  may  be  seen  in  the 
school-room  any  day  in  the  week,  Sunday  not  ex- 
cepted. Go  into  a  Sunday-school,  or  into  any  other 
school.  In  nineteen  cases  out  of  twenty  the  teacher 
is  before  his  class,  book  in  ha7id^  undertaking  to 
teach  exactly  as  our  imaginary  captain  was  under- 
taking to  drill.  The  proceeding  is  just  as  absurd  in 
the  one  case  as  in  the  other.     All  the  difficulty  of 


172  THE    TEACHER. 

maintaining  order,  of  securing  attention,  of  making 
the  children  interested,  of  keeping  every  part  of  the 
class  engaged  at  the  same  time,  has  its  root  in  this 
method  of  teaching  out  of  book.  If  the  teacher  is 
pinned  down  to  his  question-book,  obHged  first  to 
read  the  question,  then  to  look  at  his  class,  then  to 
look  at  the  answer  in  the  book  to  see  if  it  corre- 
sponds to  that  given  by  the  scholar,  he  may  perhaps 
be  hearing  a  lesson,  but  he  is  not  teaching.  In  real 
teaching  there  should  be  no  book  in  the  hands  of 
either  teacher  or  scholars.  I  do  not  mean  that  books 
should  not  be  used  in  the  preparation  of  the  lesson. 
Some  persons  indeed  go  so  far  as  to  say  that  text- 
books should  be  dispensed  with  entirely,  the  teacher 
supplying  the  knowledge  by  familiar  lectures,  and 
then  catechising  the  pupils  upon  it  until  they  know 
it.  This  is  a  mistake  in  the  other  extreme.  In  my 
opinion  the  scholars  should  have  a  text-book,  and 
should  prepare  their  lessons  by  means  of  it.  It  is 
important  for  them  not  only  to  learn  the  knowledge 
or  facts  contained  in  the  lesson,  but  to  learn  how  to 
study.  The  object  of  the  recitation,  however,  is  to 
sift  the  knowledge  acquired  by  the  pupil  in  his  pri- 
vate preparation,  to  bring  it  out  for  examination,  to 
correct  it  wherever  it  is  faulty,  to  round  it  and  give 
it  completeness  by  additions  from  the  teacher's  own  - 
fulness. 

Nothing  is  so  exhilarating  to  all  concerned  as  real, 
live  teaching.  Scholars  and  teacher  enjoy  it  alike. 
But  to  this  end,  while  in  the  class,  books  must  be  en- 


THE    TEACHER.  173 

tirely  laid  aside.  Where  the  class  has  a  room  by  itself, 
so  that  the  teacher  can  be  free  in  his  movements, 
he  should  stand  or  walk  about  in  front  of  his  class 
just  as  a  captain  or  a  drill  sergeant  does  in  front  of 
his  company.  Sitting  down  to  teach  is  precisely  on 
a  par  with  sitting  down  while  putting  a  company  of 
soldiers  through  their  movements.  Teaching  is  a 
mental  gymnastic,  and  while  it  lasts  it  should  be 
conducted  with  such  vigor  and  such  tension  of  mind 
that  at  brief  intervals,  half  an  hour  or  three-quarters 
at  the  most,  teacher  and  pupils  alike  will  need  a 
breathing-spell. 

Most  of  the  teachers  whose  eyes  these  paragraphs 
will  reach  will  think  it  quite  out  of  the  question  for 
thc7n  to  attempt  to  carry  this  theory  through  with 
their  classes.  Suppose  their  class  has  a  lesson  in 
the  question-book.  How  can  the  teacher  remember 
all  those  minute  questions?  But  is  it  necessary  that 
you  should?  Is  it  intended  that  all  these  questions 
should  be  asked  and  answered  in  recitation,  and  ex- 
actly in  the  order  put  down  in  the  book?  Most  de- 
cidedly, No.  The  true  way  to  use  a  question-book 
is  this.  First,  let  all,  scholars  and  teacher,  commit 
thoroughly  to  memory  the  text  or  verses  which  form 
the  basis  of  the  lesson.  If  any  of  the  scholars  can- 
not as  yet  be  induced  to  do  this,  let  the  teacher  at 
least  not  fail  to  do  it.  Let  him  have  the  verses  at 
his  tongue's  end,  just  as  the  captain  has  at  his 
tongue's  end  the  various  words  of  command.  The 
next  step  in  preparing  the  lesson  is  to  find  answers 

15  * 


174  THE    TEACHER. 

to  all  the  questions  in  the  book.  This  helps  to  bring 
out  the  meaning.  The  teacher  would  do  well  also 
to  go  over  the  subject  in  his  mind  and  see -how  far 
he  can  recall  the  various  points  without  referring  to 
the  book.  Having  thus  studied  the  lesson,  let  teacher 
and  pupil  both  when  the  hour  for  teaching  arrives  ■ 
lay  aside  their  books  and  come  face  to  face  as  friend 
to  friend  when  talking  about  some  point  of  interest, 
as  man  to  man  when  meeting  in  the  street,  as  buyer 
and  seller  when  driving  a  bargain. 

There  is  a  prevailing  timidity  on  this  point  among 
Sunday-school  teachers.  It  requires  some  nerve  at 
first  to  undertake  to  teach  without  book.  But  a  little 
extra  exertion  in  preparing  the  lesson  will  secure 
you  against  failure,  and  when  you  have  once  achieved 
success  and  delivered  yourself  from  the  trammels  of 
the  book-method,  you  will  feel  such  freedom  and 
joy  in  .the  work  that  you  will  wonder  how  you 
could  ever  have  worked  otherwise. 

That  I  may  not  be  supposed  to  be  advocating 
something  entirely  unattainable,  let  me  quote  an  ex- 
ample or  two  to  show  what  is  done  wherever  the  art 
of  teaching  has  been  made  a  study. 

Professor  Newell,  the  Principal  of  the  Normal 
School  of  Maryland,  before  taking  charge  of  that 
institution,  went  on  a  tour  of  observation  to  some  of 
the  leading  State  Normal  schools  of  the  country.  In 
his  report  on  the  subject  occurs  the  following  re- 
mark :  "  Though  I  did  not  find  exactly  the  same 
methods  of  instruction  prevailing  in  all  the  school^i 


THE   TEACHER.  1 75 

visited,  nor  even  in  all  the  departments  of  the  same 
school,  yet  a  striking  family  likeness  could  be  noticed 
among  them  all.  I  never  saw  a  teacher  in  one  of 
those  schools  use  a  text-book  (other  than  a  spelling 
or  a  reading-book),  except  for  occasional  reference. 
I  was  present  at  recitations  in  history  in  several 
schools,  and  in  none  did  the  teacher  use  a  book. 
Every  lesson  seemed  to  be  thoroughly  mastered  and 
systematically  arranged  in  the  teacher's  mind  before 
coming  to  class  ;  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  many  of 
the  teachers  spent  as  much  time  in  preparation  as 
their  scholars  did." 

Horace  Mann,  in  his  report  of  six  weeks  among 
the  Prussian  schools,  says  :  "  During  all  this  time  / 
never  saw  a  teacher  hearing  a  lesson  of  any  kind 
(except  a  reading  or  a  spelling  lesson)  with  a  book 
iti  his  hand.'^ 

"  I  never  saw  a  teacher  with  a  text-book  in  his 
hand  !"  Will  our  Sunday-school  teachers  ponder 
these  words  ?  It  is  not  meant  that  text-books  should 
be  discarded.  The  schools  visited  by  Professor 
Newell  were  not  taught  on  the  lecture  system.  The 
classes  and  the  teachers  that  he  describes  in  almost 
every  case  had  used  books  in  the  preparation  of  the 
lesson.  But  in  reciting  the  lesson  teachers  and 
pupils  alike  laid  aside  all  books.  In  fact, 410  book 
is  allowed  to  make  its  appearance  in  the  recitation- 
room.  Teacher  and  pupil  meet  in  fair  and  equal 
encounter,  each  dependent  solely  on  the  knowledge 
that  has  become  bona  fde  his  own.     The  teacher 


176  THE    TEACHER. 

Stands  up  before  his  class  and  questions  them,,  or 
discourses  to  them  from  '  the  fuhiess  of  his  own 
mind,  looking  them  directly  in  the  face.  The  schol- 
ar's response,  in  like  manner,  is  from  himself,  not 
from  his  book.  This  is  live  work,  and  it  has  a 
quickening  influence  on  all  concerned.  It  almost 
certainly  secures  that  direct  contact  of  mind  with 
mind  which  constitutes  teaching.  A  man  may  learn 
by  solitary  study.  But  if  he  is  taught  by  another,  it 
must  be  by  having  that  other's  mind  brought  into 
living  contact  with  his  own,  and  there  is  no  bar  to 
this  contact  so  thoroughly  effectual  as  a  text-book  in 
the  hand  of  the  teacher.  A  man  might  as  well  at- 
tempt to  see  his  class  through  leather  spectacles  as 
to  teach  them  with  his  eye  on  a  question-book. 

Will  our  teachers  who  have  been  all  their  lives  in 
bondage  to  their  text-book  method  of  hearing  a 
lesson  be  persuaded  for  once  to  try  teaching  without 
book.''  They  will  be  amazed  at  the  sudden  feeling 
of  emancipation  that  they  will  experience.  There 
is  a  wonderful  sense  of  freedom  and  enjoyment  in 
thus  teaching.  The  scholars  enjoy  it  too.  Recita- 
tion instantly  loses  its  character  of  humdrum,  and 
becomes  animated  and  absorbing,  like  the  exercise 
of  some  pleasant  game.  The  ideas  too  that  are 
evolvectin  such  a  process  acquire  a  peculiar  sharp- 
ness and  definiteness,  and  they  are  stamped  in  on 
the  memory  in  characters  never  to  be  effaced. 

It  may  perhaps  require  some  courage  for  you  to 
go    before   your    class    the    first  time   without  your 


THE    TEACHER.  1 77 

question-book.  You  will  undoubtedly  see  a  Hon  in 
the  path.  But,  like  Bunyan's  pilgrim,  you  will  find 
the  lion  chained.  Your  first  lesson  on  this  plan  will 
be  your  hardest.  Every  succeeding  lesson  will  be 
easier,  and  in  the  end  you  will  wonder  that  you 
could  ever  have  been  content  to  teach  in  any  other 
way.  The  Sunday-school  teacher  of  course  will 
always  need  to  have  his  Bible  in  hand,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  referring  to  chapter  and  verse  when  parallel 
passages  are  needed  for  confirmation.  But  the  text 
and  the  topics  of  the  lesson  itself  should  always  be 
thoroughly  committed  to  memor}'  and  the  question- 
book  should  be  left  at  home. 

Such  a  method   undoubtedly  requires  study  and 
preparation.     But  it  pays. 

lo.    Holdiiig  the  Atte?ttlo7z  of  a    Class. 

The  idea  which  some  teachers  have  of  their  office 
is  that  their  whole  duty  consists  in  hearing  lessons. 
Until  this  idea  is  thoroughly  scattered  to  the  winds 
there  can  be  no  progress,  not  even  a  tendency  toward 
improvement.  Teaching  and  hearing  lessons  are 
difi'erent  processes.  A  child  recites  lessons  when  it 
repeats  something  previously  learned.  A  child  is 
taught  when  it  learns  from  the  teacher  something 
not  known  before.  The  two  things  often,  indeed, 
go  together,  but  they  are  in  themselves  essentially 
distinct.  A  class  of  children  may  come  to  school, 
and  each  in  turn  recite  what  it  has  learned  from  its 
parents  at  home,  and  the  teacher,  so  called,  may  be 
M 


lyS  THE    TEACHER. 

of  some  use  in  listening  to  the  children,  and  in  judg- 
ing and  recording  the  merits  of  each.  In  performing 
such  a  function  as  this,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  have 
the  attention  of  any  member  of  the  class  except  the 
one  who  for  the  time  is  repeating  his  verses,  and  the 
teacher  w^ould  find  it  next  to  impossible  to  secure  any 
greater  amount  of  attention,  even  should  he  attempt 
it.  In  a  class  so  conducted  all  that  the  teacher  can 
hope  for  is  that,  by  the  help  of  library  books,  papers, 
coaxing  and  scolding,  the  several  members  may  be 
kept  from  actual  riot  during  that  portion  of  the  hour 
when  each  one  is  not  going  through  his  own  individ- 
ual performance. 

But  let  the  teacher  once  wake  up  to  the  idea  of 
what  teaching  really  is,  and  he  will  begin  to  see, 
first  how  vital  it  is  that  he  should  all  the  time  have 
the  attention  of  all  his  class,  and,  secondly,  that  this 
essential  result  is  really  attainable.  Let  it  only  be 
understood  that  the  class  go  to  the  teacher  to  learn 
something  from  him,  and  that  the  teacher  goes  to 
the  class  to  teach  them,  that  is,  to  make  them  know 
something  which  they  did  not  know  before.  Noth- 
ing can  be  plainer  than  that  he  must  have  the  un- 
divided attention  of  the  whole  class  all  the  time. 
To  proceed  without  this  would  be  working  to  the 
greatest  possible  disadvantage.  Suppose  a  teacher 
has  a  class  of  ten,  and  that  the  time  of  actual  teach- 
ing extends  to  fifty  minutes,  which  is  an  allowance 
reached  in  few  Sunday-schools.  If  the  teacher,  in- 
stead of  claiming  the  attention  of  the  whole  class  at 


THE    TEACHER.  1 79 

once,  proceeds  on  the  individual  method,  and  takes 
but  one  pupil  at  a  time,  he  will  have  but  five  min- 
utes to  give  to  each,  and  besides,  instead  of  giving 
but  one  lesson,  will  have  to  give  ten  separate  lessons. 
The  practical  absurdity  of  such  a  method  is  too 
apparent  to  require  argument.  The  teacher  who 
would  accomplish  anything  worth  the  name  of  teach- 
ing must  come  to  his  class  with  one  definite,  well- 
prepared  lesson  or  train  of  thought  in  his  mind,  and 
must  then  give  his  whole  time  and  energy  to  the 
task  of  putting  that  train  of  thought  into  the  minds 
of  his  youthful  auditory.  How  this  is  to  be  done  is 
another  matter.  But  the  one  indispensable  pre- 
requisite is  that  he  have  this  singleness  of  purpose, 
and  that  the  class  for  the  lime  shall  be  a  unit,  that 
is,  that  he  shall  have  their  undivided  attention. 

Such  attention  will  not  be  given  to  one  whose  own 
attention  is  confined  in  any  considerable  degree  to  the 
book.  I  cannot  too  often  repeat.  The  teacher  must 
learn  to  teach  without  book.  To  be  obliged  first  to 
look  into  the  book  for  the  purpose  of  reading  out  a 
question,  then  to  look  round  the  class  and  hear  the 
answer,  then  to  look  into  the  book  again  and  see  if 
the  answer  is  right,  is  to  subject  one's  self  to  con- 
tinual embarrassment,  and  practically  to  lose  control 
of  the  class.  We  may  compare  it  to  a  man  driving 
a  six-horse  team  who  should  drop  his  lines  every 
few  rods  for  the  purpose  of  buttoning  up  his  coat,  or 
putting  a  cracker  on  his  whip,  or  to  examine  a  map 
or  a  guide-book.     Every  time  the  teacher  stops  to 


I  So  THE    TEACHER. 

look  into  the  book,  except  in  the  most  casual  way, 
he  drops  the  reins,  and  the  young  coursers  take  the 
bit  into  their  own  mouths.  If  the  teacher  would 
hold  the  attention  of  the  class,  he  must  give  the  class 
his  own  attention.  Whatever  attention  is  given  by 
him  to  the  book  is  so  much  withdrawn  from  the 
class,  and  consequently  so  much  of  his  power  over 
the  class  is  lost.  There  is  no  mystery  about  it  at  all. 
Any  teacher  who  has  the  lesson  thoroughly  at  his 
command,  so  that  if  he  needs  to  refer  to  the  book  at 
all  it  will  only  be  in  the  most  casual  and  rapid  way, 
can  experience  no  great  difficulty  in  securing  atten- 
tion. 

The  true  secret  of  the  whole  matter  lies  in  the 
preparation  of  the  lesson.  Here  is  the  difficulty. 
What  can  we  say  to  persuade  teachers  to  be  more 
diligent  in  this  matter.?  Going  over  the  questions  in 
a  question-book  and  hunting  out  an  answer  to  each 
question  is  not  enough.  The  question-book  is  in- 
tended to  help  in  studying  the  lesson,  but  should 
never  be  used  in  teaching  it.  Before  beginning  to 
hear  a  lesson,  let  teachers  and  scholars  all  lay  aside 
their  question-books.  Collect  them  and  pile  them 
up  until  the  lesson  is  over.  What  if  you  do  forget 
some  of  the  questions.?  No  great  harm  is  done,  and 
an  immense  gain  is  secured.  Teacher  and  scholars 
are  thrown  directly  upon  their  own  resources. 
Knowing  that  the  lesson  is  to  be  gone  through  in 
this  way,  you  will  not  fail  to  make  your  preparation 
in  an  entirely  different  kind  of  way  from  what  you 


THE    TEACHER.  l8l 

have  been  accustomed  to.  You  will  find  in  each 
lesson  certain  leading  facts  and  thoughts,  and  you 
will  endeavor  to  fix  these  definitely  in  your  memory, 
without  reference  so  much  to  the  particular  form  of 
words  in  which  they  are  expressed.  You  will  un- 
consciously make  questions  of  your  own  or  put  the 
same  questions  in  difierent  shapes,  and  will  continue 
to  go  over  each  point  until  you  find  the  whole  class 
familiar  with  it. 

By  being  thus  untrammelled  with  the  question- 
books,  you  and  your  scholars  will  be  left  to  the  free 
use  of  your  eyes,  and  the  eye  is  as  great  a  teacher  as 
the  tongue.  The  teacher  must  look  right  into  the 
eyes  of  his  scholars  all  the  while  if  he  would  hold 
their  attention.  Scholars  like  this  living,  constant 
interchange  of  looks  with  their  teacher.  The  influ- 
ence of  it  is  magnetic.  It  quickens  thought  as  well 
as  sympathy.  It  transforms  the  whole  exercise  and 
makes  the  recitation  a  season  of  exhilaration  and 
enjoyment.  But  no  one  can  be  thus  free  to  use  his 
eyes  unless  the  lesson  is  entirely  at  his  command,  so 
that  the  book  may  be  closed. 

Study  the  lesson.  Teach  without  book.  Use  your 
eyes.  Do  these  three  things,  and  you  will  find  no 
difficulty  in  holding  the  attention  of  your  class.  You 
will  then  really  and  truly  teach. 

Before  dropping  the  subject  I  wish  to  express  an- 
other thought,  though  it  is  to  some  extent  implied  in 
what  I  have  said  already. 

If  you  want  to  hold  the  attention  of  a  class,  par 
16 


iS3  THE    TEACHER, 

ticLilarly  if  the  scholars  be  quite  young,  you  must 
make  them  all  actors  in  what  is  going  on.  Children, 
grown  people  too,  tire  of  being  talked  at,  or  merely 
acted  upon.  None  of  us  like  to  be  in  the  passive 
voice.  The  indicative,  active,  first  person,  singular, 
is  the  favorite  part  of  the  whole  verb.  There  must 
be  question  and  answer  in  quick  succession  if  the 
class  is  to  be  kept  thoroughly  wide  awake.  If  even 
in  sermon  time  it  were  possible  to  have  occasionally 
some  "answering  back,"  instead  of  the  congregation 
remaining  entirely  passive,  there  would  not  be  quite 
as  many  sleepers  as  we  now  sometimes  see  in  look- 
ing over  the  pews. 

As  I  have  said  before,  children  are  often  kept 
wide  awake  by  skipping  about  in  giving  out  the 
questions,  instead  of  passing  regularly  round  the 
class.  But  in  pursuing  this  method  one  caution  is 
to  be  observed.  Unless  the  teacher  is  himself  wide 
awake,  all  the  reciting  will  be  done  by  two  or  three 
bright  scholars,  while  the  lazy  ones  will  quietly  slip 
out  altogether. 

One  of  the  finest  methods  of  waking  up  a  class 
that  I  have  ever  seen  was  in  the  Girls'  High  School 
of  Philadelphia.  The  exercise  was  what  used  to  be 
known  in  that  institution  as  "fast  parsing."  In  this 
case  the  questions  were  not  skipped  about,  but  passed 
in  regular  order  round  the  class,  but  passed  so  rapidly 
that  the  pupils  had  to  keep  their  wits  about  them 
with  as  much  intensity  of  attention  as  that  of  the 
player  at  sword  fencing.     To  make  this  movement 


THE    TEACHER.  1 83 

the  more  rapid,  the  parsing  of  each  word  was  cut 
up  into  as  many  separate  items  as  possible,  each 
pupil  being  required  to  give  only  one  single  item, 
and  give  it  in  the  exact  order  previously  prescribed. 
For  example.  In  parsing  a  verb,  pupil  number  one 
says,  *'It  is  a  verb,"  number  two  gives  the  principal 
parts,  number  three  says,  ''It  is  regular,"  number 
four,  "It  is  transitive,"  number  five,  "It  is  in  the 
active  voice,"  number  six,  "It  is  in  the  past  tense," 
number  seven,  "It  is  in  the  singular  number,"  num- 
ber eight,  "It  is  in  the  third  person,"  and  so  on.  If 
any  pupil  hesitates  a  moment,  or  says  wrong,  or  says 
the  right  thing  out  of  its  right  order,  the  teacher  in- 
stantly passes  it  on  to  "the  next,"  "the  next,"  until 
the  right  answer  is  given. 

A  class  must,  of  course,  have  already  attained 
good  proficiency  in  parsing,  or  in  any  other  exercise, 
before  this  method  could  be  applied  to  it.  But  this 
point  once  gained,  the  eflect  in  keeping  the  attention 
upon  the  strain  is  mai*vellous.  It  is  not  recommended 
as  a  means  of  securing  close  and  careful  thought,  or 
learning  nice  distinctions,  but  simply  as  a  sort  of 
mental  gymnastics.  If  the  pupil  lets  his  attention 
flag  for  half  a  minute  he  is  tripped  up.  And  then  it 
ditlers  from  the  usual  methods  of  tossing  a  question 
about  according  to  the  show  of  hands  or  the  snap- 
ping of  fingers.  These  methods  produce  a  lively 
time  for  the  spectator.  But  there  is  always  a  consid- 
erable part  of  the  class  that  do  nothing.  These  very 
pupils  that  thus  sit    quiescent  and   passive   are   the 


184  THE    TEACHER. 

very  ones  that  need  to  be  waked  up  and  put  into  the 
active  voice,  first  person  singular.  But  in  the  '•''fasf'' 
method,  eveiy  scholar  is  stirred  up.  It  has  all  the 
avs^akening  and  enlivening  effect  of  a  merry  game. 

The  "  fast"  method  is  one  to  be  used  with  caution 
and  only  as  an  occasional  exercise.  Qiiickness  of 
perception,  promptness  of  utterance  and  a  thoroughly 
awakened  attention  are  cultivated  by  it.  But  these 
are  not  the  only  mental  qualities  to  be  cultivated. 
We  need  the  power  to  trace  out  and  bring  to  light 
hidden  analogies — a  power  that  necessarily  moves 
slowly,  cautiously  and  inquiringly.  We  need  that 
power  of  complete  and  continuous  expression  which 
comes  from  the  topical  method  of  recitation. 

II.    Keepi7zg  the    Children  Busy, 

Among  Mr.  Fitch's  celebrated  maxims  for  Sunday- 
school  teachers  is  this :  "  Never  permit  any  child  to 
remain  in  the  class,  even  for  a  minute,  without  some- 
thing to  do  and  a  motive  for  doing  it."  No  one  can 
doubt  the  excellence  of  the  rule.  The  difficulty  is 
in  knowing  how  to  keep  it.  It  is  like  saying  to  a 
minister,  Preach  like  Henry  Ward  Beecher  and  you 
will  be  sure  of  having  a  good  congregation  ;  or  say- 
ing to  a  clerk,  Write  like  the  vSpencerians  and  you 
may  be  sure  of  a  good  salary  ;  or  saying  to  a  child 
just  beginning  to  learn  to  walk.  Hold  yourself  straight, 
put  your  feet  out  one  after  the  other  as  I  do  and  you 
will  not  fall.  This  keeping  all  the  children  in  a 
school  fully  occupied  all  the  time  is  just  the  very 


THE    TEACHER.  1 85 

hardest  thing  for  the  teacher  to  do.  It  is  the  crown- 
ing' achievement  of  the  teacher's  art.  To  point  to  it 
distinctly  as  an  aim  toward  which  the  teacher  shoidd 
direct  his  efibrts  and  his  ambition,  and  to  suggest 
means  and  devices  by  which  he  may  be  helped  in 
reaching  it,  is  all  very  well.  But  simply  enjoining 
it  as  an  elementary  rule  has  always  seemed  to  me 
'somewhat  absurd. 

Every  one  who  has  taught  in  a  common  school,  or 
in  a  Sunday-school,  knows  that  one  of  the  most  diffi- 
cult things  to  do  is  to  keep  one  part  of  the  class  or 
of  the  school  properly  occupied  while  he  is  busy 
with  the  other  part.  Children  are  by  nature  rest- 
less, and  none  more  so  than  those  who  are  particu- 
larly bright  and  intelligent.  Indeed  it  is  often  the 
brightest  scholars  in  the  school  that  give  the  most 
trouble.  When  the  teacher,  as  it  sometimes  hap- 
pens in  Sunday-schools,  has  only  one  class,  and  the 
children  composing  it  have  all  exactly  the  same  les- 
son, the  problem  is  comparatively  easy.  But  this  is 
rarely  the  case.  Even  in  Sunday-schools,  and  under 
the  best  classification,  the  teacher  is  sure  to  have  one 
or  more  scholars  who  require  special  and  separate 
instruction,  and  while  the  teacher  is  attending  to 
these  the  others  need  to  be  provided  with  work. 
In  many  classes,  in  mission-schools,  almost  every 
scholar  is  a  unit  by  himself,  requiring  separate  treat- 
ment. In  the  common  weekday  district-school  the 
difficulties  are  greater  still.  There  the  teacher 
usually  has  from  forty  to  fifty  scholars  divided  into 
IG  « 


1 86  THE    TEACHER. 

at  least  a  dozen  classes,  of  which  only  one  can  be 
taught  at  a  time.  The  others,  it  is  true,  have  their 
lessons  to  prepare  in  the  intervals  between  recita- 
tion. But  to  keep  their  little  feet  and  hands  and 
tongues  all  busy  with  their  studies,  not  by  terror  and 
punishment,  but  by  adequate  motives  of  a  better 
kind,  taxes  the  ingenuity  and  the  invention  of  the 
most  skilful  teacher.  The  common-school  teacher, ' 
however,  has  the  advantage  of  being  able  to  use 
methods  and  subjects  that  would  not  be  appropriate 
to  a  Sunday-school.  Children,  for  instance,  are 
fond  of  doing  sums  in  addition,  subtraction,  multi- 
plication and  division,  especially  under  the  principle 
of  emulation,  striving  to  see  who  can  do  the  greatest 
number  of  sums,  and  as  this  kind  of  exercise  is  in 
itself  exceedingly  valuable  in  making  them  practi- 
cally expert  in  figures,  teachers  often  employ  this 
method  of  filling  up  waste  moments,  requiring  the 
pupils  first  to  study  the  appointed  lessons,  and  then 
allowing  them  to  acquire  extra  merit  marks  by 
doing  as  many  of  these  sums  as  they  can  find  time 
for.  To  facilitate  this  kind  of  exercise,  ingenious 
methods  have  been  invented  by  which  a  teacher 
may  place  upon  the  board  any  number  of  arithmet- 
ical examples  of  this  kind,  so  constructed  that  the 
teacher  knows  by  inspection  whether  the  answer  is 
right  or  wrong  without  having  to  work  out  the  sum 
himself,  although  the  pupil  has  to  go  through  all  the 
work  in  order  to  get  the  right  result. 

The  Sunday-school   teacher  who  aims  to  observe 


THE    TEACHER.  1 87 

Mr.  Fitch's  rule  must  become  inventive.  Invention, 
in  fact,  is  one  of  the  prime  requisites  in  all  teaching. 
No  rule  can  be  given  which  will  apply  to  all  cases. 
Every  class  has  its  peculiarities.  The  teacher  must 
think  of  the  character  and  disposition  of  each  of  his 
scholars,  and  during  the  week  must  say  to  himself, 
What  is  there  that  I  can  give  to  this  child,  what  to 
that,  what  to  the  other,  to  do  while  the  rest  of  us  are 
otherwise  engaged  ?  The  thing  thus  assigned  should 
be  something  that  the  child  will  not  look  upon  as  a 
disagreeable  and  irksome  command,  but  as  some- 
thing which  will  be  attractive  and  interesting,  and 
which  he  will  enter  upon  with  zest  as  a  pleasure. 
It  should  be  also  something  which  the  teacher  can, 
without  much  interruption  or  loss  of  time,  examine, 
that  he  may  test  the  correctness  of  it,  and  make  some 
kind  of  record  of  what  each  child  accomplishes. 
Care  should  be  taken  that  these  little  tasks  should  be 
of  a  definite  kind,  which  can  be  exactly  measured  as 
right  or  wrong,  that  they  should  not  be  puzzling  or 
complex,  and  that,  instead  of  one  long  task  to  be  done 
with  greater  or  less  degree  of  perfection,  there  should 
be  a  number  of  small  and  comparatively  easy  things, 
each  complete  in  itself,  so  that  every  pupil  may  be 
able  to  do  at  least  one,  while  none  will  be  able  to 
do  all. 

Suppose  for  instance  a  teacher,  who  had  a  class 
of  suitable  age  and  attainments  for  such  a  purpose, 
were  to  ask  his  pupils  to  open  to  the  first  chapter  of 
Matthew,  twenty-second  verse,  where  it  is  said  that 


1 88  THE    TEACHER. 

the  Saviour's  birth  was  in  fulfihnent  of  prophecy, 
and  after  explaining  the  matter  to  them  should  say, 
While  I  am  engaged  in  hearing  the  different  parts 
of  the  class  recite,  I  would  like  each  of  you  to  begin 
at  this  twenty-second  verse  and  read  on  and  see  how- 
many  other  places  in  the  narrative  you  can  find 
where  it  is  said  that  prophecy  was  fulfilled.  But 
keep  a  sharp  lookout  not  to  overlook  ?ccvy.  I  will  give 
one  credit  mark  for  every  example  which  you  find, 
taking  them  in  the  order  in  which  they  occur,  but 
will  deduct  one  for  every  example  which  you  may 
overlook.  I  have  been  examining  the  narrative  my- 
self during  the  week,  and  have  the  examples  all  at 
my  finger  ends  ;  so  you  must  look  out  that  I  do  not 
find  you  tripping. 

On  another  occasion,  or  with  a  different  class, 
supposing  the  pupils  to  be  furnished  with  a  suitable 
map,  he  might  point  them  to  the  thirteenth  chaptei 
of  Acts,  and  might  say.  You  see  here  that  Paul  and 
Barnabas  set  out  from  Antioch  on  a  missionary  tour. 
Suppose  you  follow  the  narrative  with  the  map  be- 
fore you  and  see  how  far  you  can  trace  Paul's  jour- 
neyings  during  the  time  which  you  will  have  to  spare 
this  morning,  so  that  you  can  point  with  your  finger 
from  place  to  place  each  step  in  his  journey,  not 
omitting  any. 

There  is  in  the  Bible  no  end  to  the  things  which 
children  may  be  requested  to  find  out,  and  there  is 
nothing  that  children  like  better  than  to  hunt.  They 
will  hunt  for  Scrijjture  fiicts  and  truths,  if  once  their 


THE    TEACHER.  1 89 

curiosity  is  aroused  and  some  little  emulous  excite- 
ment is  produced,  with  as  much  pleasure  as  they 
hunt  for  shells  or  flowers  or  squirrels.  But  it  re- 
quires on  the  teacher's  part  a  great  deal  of  time  and 
thought  bestowed  upon  invention.  He  must  be  all 
the  while  hunting  up  something  new.  The  exam- 
ples which  I  have  given  are  not  in  themselves  par- 
ticularly good,  but  they  may  serve,  perhaps,  to  explain 
what  I  mean  and  to  put  the  teacher  on  the  right 
track. 

12.    Gaini?ig  the  Affections  of  Scholars, 

This  is  a  hackneyed  subject,  and  for  that  very 
reason  one  to  be  discussed.  It  is  mentioned  so  often 
because  of  its  supreme  importance,  and  this  supreme, 
urgent  importance  of  the  subject  makes  it  proper  for 
me  to  recur  to  it  again  and  again. 

The  teacher  who  has  not  the  love  of  his  scholars 
can  do  little  toward  promoting  their  advancement, 
either  mentally  or  morally.  If,  instead  of  loving 
and  respecting  him,  they  have  for  him  a  positive 
dislike,  the  task  of  teaching  is  almost  hopeless.  If 
there  could  be  a  true  record  of  school-room  labor, 
what  a  sad  revelation  would  much  of  it  be  !  In  how 
many  cases  the  chief  end  of  the  teacher  is  to  detect 
mischief,  the  chief  end  of  the  scholar  to  escape  de- 
tection !  In  how  many  cases  the  lesson  is  not  a 
boon  to  be  craved,  but  a  task  to  be  deplored  and  if 
possible  evaded  !  In  how  many  cases  the  teacher  is 
regarded  not  as  a  dear  friend  and  helper,  but  as  an 


190  THE    TEACHER, 

enemy,  a  taskmaster,  a  tyrant,  an  obstacle  in  the 
way  of  enjoyment ! 

Thank  God,  these  cases  are  on  the  decrease.  As 
the  business  of  teaching  is  becoming  better  under- 
stood, as  the  number  is  increasing  of  those  who  enter 
upon  its  duties  because  they  like  the  work  and  find 
it  congenial,  there  are  proportionally  fewer  who 
make  it  an  intolerable  burden  for  themselves  and 
their  scholars.  There  are  teachers,  and  there  are 
scholars,  who  are  never  more  happy  than  when  in 
the  school-room — who  look  forward  with  longing  to 
the  hour  when  school  is  to  begin,  and  back  with 
regret  upon  the  hour  when  it  closed.  There  are 
schools  which  are  more  attractive  than  the  play- 
ground or  the  social  party.  In  all  such  schools 
Love  reigns.  There  are  rules,  doubtless,  and  some- 
times penalties,  for  children  will  forget,  and  they 
need  restraint  even  under  the  best  conditions.  But 
the  supreme  power,  that  sits  enthroned  at  the  desk 
and  that  sways  every  will  in  that  little  kingdom,  is  a 
spirit  of  love. 

Why  is  it  important  that  scholars  should  love  their 
teacher? 

Not  because  it  is  pleasant  to  the  teacher  to  be 
loved.  No  doubt  it  does  add  to  the  teacher's  happi- 
ness, and  this  added  pleasure  is  something  which  he 
may  well  covet.  But  no  true  teacher  is  so  selfish  as 
to  wish  and  labor  for  the  love  of  his  pupils  merely 
for  the  personal  gratification  it  afibrds.  Such  a  view 
of  the  subject  degrades  and  belittles  it. 


THE    TEACHER.  I91 

A  child's  love  for  his  teachers  makes  tasks  easy. 
He  is  more  ready  to  encounter  toil  in  the  preparation 
of  lessons.  He  works  hard  without  counting  it 
work.  He  has  no  longer  any  motive  for  engaging 
in  those  petty  tricks  and  annoyances  which  consume 
so  much  of  some  scholars'  time.  A  desire  to  win 
the  approbation  of  a  teacher  who  is  loved  gives  to 
study  a  zest  equal  to  that  which  children  find  in 
their  games. 

Love  and  hatred  have  upon  the  understanding  a 
singular  effect  which  seems  not  to  be  appreciated  by 
many  persons,  and  which  in  fact  has  not  as  yet  been 
fully  explained.  Hatred  or  evil  passion  of  any  kind 
has  an  effect  upon  the  mind  somewhat  like  that  of 
stirring  up  the  mud  and  sediment  in  the  bottom  of  a 
fountain.  The  perceptions  are  obscured  under  such 
disturbing  influences.  No  man  can  reason  clearly 
when  under  the  influence  of  anger  or  malice.  Every 
bad  passion  stirs  up  the  sediments  in  the  bottom  of 
the  soul  and  makes  it  impossible  for  a  man  to  see 
clearl}'  or  judge  truly.  The  sun  may  shine  brightly 
in  the  heavens,  but  it  will  reveal  no  gems  of  truth  at 
the  bottom  of  that  fountain  which  is  ever  throwing 
up  mire  and  dirt.  Scholars  will  never  learn  much 
from  a  teacher  who  for  any  cause  stirs  up  their  feel- 
ings of  animosity  and  dislike.  Not  only  will  they 
make  less  exertions  to  learn,  but  their  very  power  of 
mental  perception  seems  to  be  obscured.  There  is 
no  clarifier  of  tne  understanding  equal  to  that  of  a 
calm,  serene,  undoubting  love.     Mental  perceptions, 


192  THE    TEACHER. 

in  other  words,  are  helped  or  hindered  by  the  state 
of  the  heart.  We  may  not  be  able,  perhaps,  to  ex- 
plain it  philosophically.  But  of  the  fact  no  teacher 
can  well  doubt  who  has  had  much  experience  in  his 
work. 

But  the  teacher  has  other  functions  besides  that  of 
making  his  scholars  grow  in  knowledge.  He  is  to 
mould  their  opinions,  to  shape  their  moral  senti- 
ments, to  influence  their  habits.  Here  the  power  ^ 
love  is  still  more  marked  than  in  the  purely  intel- 
lectual processes.  Without  love  as  a  controlling 
motive,  the  teacher  in  all  this  important  class  of 
duties  can  do  absolutely  nothing.  With  love  he  may 
do  what  he  will  with  the  yielding  and  plastic  ma- 
terials before  him. 

How  shall  this  love  be  gained.'' 

Not  by  weak  compliances.  Not  by  foolish  and 
unwise  indulgences.  Not  by  flattering  words.  Love, 
to  be  of  any  value  as  an  educating  power,  must  be 
based  on  respect,  and  children  do  not  respect  a 
teacher  who  grants  to  their  solicitations  what  they 
know  is  not  for  their  real  benefit,  or  who  seeks  to 
ingratiate  himself  with  them  by  ministering  to  their 
vanity  and  self-conceit.  Love  is  the  true  price  for 
love.  Let  no  teacher  expect  the  love  of  his  scholars 
who  does  not  truly  love  them.  God  help  the  teacher 
who  has  not  this  love  in  his  heart !  Most  profoundly 
do  I  pity  him. 

But  some  teachers  who  truly  love  their  scholars 
shrink  from  giving  it  manifestation.     This  is  not  so 


THE    TEACHER.  193 

bad  as  pretending  to  a  love  which  you  do  not  have. 
Still,  it  is  a  mistake.  Let  your  affection  beam  forth 
in  your  face  and  you  will  soon  see  a  warm  answer- 
ing smile  in  the  face  of  your  scholar.  Faithful,  con- 
scientious teachers  sometimes  err  just  here.  The-y 
stand  too  much  upon  their  dignity.  They  seem 
afraid  of  letting  themselves  down  to  the  level  of 
their  scholars. 

Prodigious   is  the   power  of   pleasant   looks   and 
pleasant  words  in  the  school-room. 

13.  Reaching  the  Comprehension  of  the  Scholars, 

One  of  the  last  things  that  a  teacher  learns  is, 
how  little  the  scholars  understand  of  what  he  says. 
A  word  which  to  him  seems  perfectly  plain,  the  mean- 
ing of  which  he  takes  for  granted  they  know,  con- 
veys to  them  no  more  idea  than  if  it  was  Greek  or 
Choctaw.  It  is  only  after  long  experience,  and  by 
many  and  painful  trials,  that  he  finds  out  that  in 
teaching  a  lesson  every  word  has  to  be  questioned 
and  challenged.  I  speak,  of  course,  of  young  chil- 
dren and  of  primary  instruction.  Yet  even  pupils 
more  advanced  need  watching.  Scholars  fifteen  or 
sixteen  years  old  often  fall  into  the  habit  of  hearing 
and  of  using  words  to  which  they  attach  no  mean- 
ing. I  knew  a  boy  fourteen  years  old,  who  had 
grown  up  in  daily  atten(hince  upon  excellent  public 
schools,  who  when  questioned  upon  the  meaning  of 
the  phrase,  "Forgive  us  our  manifold  sins,"  said 
that  "manifold"  meant  "pertaining  to  man."  An- 
17  N 


194  THE    TEACHER. 

other  in  the  same  class  said  that  "atonement"  meant 
"orthodox,"  and  gave  in  illustration  of  it  the  phrase, 
"the  Church  of  the  Atonement."  Another  boy  in 
the  class  explained  the  common  word  "deride"  as 
meaning  "  to  ride  down." 

I  was  once  teaching  a  Bible-class  consisting  of 
young  ladies,  whose  average  age  was  certainly  not 
less  than  seventeen,  and  most  of  whom  were  attend- 
ing school  during  the  week.  They  were  not  poor 
girls,  but  belonged  to  educated  families.  The  lesson 
was  on  the  gift  of  tongues  on  the  day  of  Pentecost, 
in  the  second  chapter  of  Acts.  This  verse  came 
under  discussion  :  "And  there  appeared  unto  them 
cloven  tongues  like  as  of  fire,  and  it  sat  upon  each 
of  them."  It  was  found  on  inquiry  that  not  one 
young  lady  in  the  class,  consisting  of  some  twelve  or 
fourteen,  had  the  slightest  idea  of  what  was  meant 
by  "cloven."  They  had  heard  and  read  hundreds 
of  times  of  '•'•  cloven  tongues,"  but  apparently  had 
never  given  a  thought  to  the  question  what  the  word 
meant,  or  whether  it  meant  anything.  Some  guessed 
that  it  might  mean  "fiery,"  and  that  was  about  the 
nearest  conjecture  that  was  ventured. 

In  the  case  of  young  children,  such  as  form  the 
majority  of  those  attending  Sunday-school,  examples 
even  more  striking  than  these  miglit  be  adduced. 
The  difficulty  is  that  teachers  mostly  aim  too  high. 
In  preparing  a  lesson  they  look  for  hidden  meanings, 
for  solutions  of  abstruse  points  of  doctrine,  which  are 
deeply  interesting  to  themselves,  but  are  entirely  above 


THE    TEACHER.  1 95 

the  heads  of  their  children.  The  points  needed  in 
the  instruction  of  children  are  for  the  most  part  those 
which  are  plain  and  simple,  and  which  lie  upon  the 
very  surface  of  the  subject.  The  teacher  is  under 
the  continual  temptation  to  take  for  granted  that  a 
thing  is  plain  to  the  children  because  it  is  so  very 
plain  to  him.  The  more  advanced  a  teacher  is  in 
knowledge  the  more  he  is  liable  to  make  this  mis- 
take. The  expert  accountant  who  can  run  up  a  long 
column  of  figures,  and  almost  by  a  glance  of  the  eye 
tell  the  sum,  can  hardly  realize  by  how  slow  and 
laborious  a  process  a  young  beginner  arrives  at  the 
simple  result  that  three  and  two  make  five.  The 
man  who  has  spent  his  life  in  the  study  of  language 
receives  on  reading  a  sentence  a  distinct  idea  from 
each  word  as  it  passes  under  review,  without  his 
once  giving  it  a  thought.  Very  different  with  the 
child.  One-half  the  words  that  meet  his  eye  in  an 
ordinary  reading-book  convey  to  him  no  more  mean- 
ing than  do  the  cabalistic  signs  of  algebra  and  the 
higher  mathematics  to  one  just  learning  to  count. 
Hear  a  class  of  children  reading.  You  know  by 
the  very  tones  of  their  voices  that  the  words  which 
they  read  awaken  no  ideas  in  their  minds.  They 
spell  a  word  out  and  pronounce  it,  but  it  evidently 
stands  to  them  for  a  mere  sound  and  nothing  more. 

Now  in  teaching  a  child  the  very  first  step  is  to 
gauge  accurately  his  mind.  You  must  first  find  out 
what  he  knows  and  what  he  does  not  know,  and 
then  there  is  some  hope  of  your  being  able  to  minis- 


19^  THE    TEACHER. 

ter  to  his  intellectual  wants.  Children  exert  a  pow- 
erful influence  upon  children,  because  each  knows 
from  his  own  consciousness  wdiat  interests  his  fel- 
lows. Grown  persons  often  fail  to  influence  the 
young,  because  they  forget  what  were  their  own 
views  and  feelings  when  young.  We  must  get  down 
to  the  level  of  a  child  if  we  would  make  effectual 
entrance  into  his  mind.  We  must  put  ourselves  in 
a  position  to  understand  exactly  what  his  difficulties 
are.  Unless  a  child  feels  that  he  is  understood,  he 
is  soon  discouraged  ;  and  though  a  compulsory  obe- 
dience may  make  him  appear  to  attend  to  w^hat  you 
say,  your  statements  make  no  real  lodgment  in  his 
thoughts.  He  may  be  looking  at  you,  but  he  is 
thinking  of  something  else.  The  intellect  of  a  child 
must  be  reached,  in  a  great  measure,  through  his 
sympathies  and  his  feelings. 

We  may  learn  in  this  matter  a  useful  lesson  from 
the  methods  pursued  in  the  instruction  of  idiots. 
The  following  example  will  illustrate  my  meaning. 
It  was  told  me  by  Mr.  Richards,  the  gentleman  who 
first  introduced  the  subject  of  the  training  of  the 
feeble-minded  to  the  attention  of  the  philanthropists 
of  Philadelphia.  Among  the  feeble-minded  children 
that  Mr.  Richards  had  in  his  charge  was  one  that 
interested  every  visitor.  It  was  a  bo}'  about  ten 
years  old.  This  child,  when  first  found  by  Mr.  R., 
was  in  about  as  low  a  condition  as  a  human  being 
could  well  be  and  yet  be  regarded  as  human  at  all. 
It  was  a  child   six   years  old,   incapable  of  almost 


THE    TEACHER.  197 

every  kind  of  voluntary  motion  and  apparently 
knowing  nothing.  It  did  not  know  its  own  mother. 
It  took  no  notice  of  any  one.  It  was  dressed  in  a 
loose  sort  of  sack  and  lay  on  its  back  on  the  floor. 
It  could  not  chew  or  move  the  muscles  of  the  throat, 
except  merely  to  swallow  milk  or  other  nutritious 
liquid.  It  could  neither  walk,  nor  stand,  nor  sit,  nor 
turn  over,  nor  lift  its  hands,  nor  move  any  of  its 
limbs.  The  only  motion  of  which  it  seemed  capable 
w^as  sometimes  to  turn  its  head  and  a  portion  of  its 
body  a  little  over  to  one  side.  This  mass  of  flesh 
and  blood  in  human  form  lived  and  breathed,  di- 
gested food,  and  performed  the  ordinary  vital  func- 
tions, but  had  thus  far  given  no  signs  of  containing 
within  it  even  the  germ  of  intellect.  Its  eyes  looked 
out  ujDon  vacancy,  seeing  nothing.  Its  ears  were 
formed  like  other  ears,  but  whether  they  heard  any- 
thing no  one  knew.  Its  very  sense  of  feeling  was 
almost  wanting,  a  pin  thrust  into  its  leg  to  the  depth 
of  half  an  inch  causing  no  sign  of  pain.  It  seemed 
below  the  level  of  the  ordinary  brute.  No  token  of 
will,  of  passion,  of  love,  of  hate,  of  recognition  even 
of  the  hand  that  fed  it,  had  yet  been  given.  Was 
there  really  a  human  soul  in  that  living  body.?  Mr 
R.  believed  there  was,  and  determined  to  make  the 
attempt  to  awaken  and  develop  its  dormant  energies. 
When  I  first  saw  this  child  he  had  been  about 
four  years  under  training.  He  could  then  walk 
across  the  room,  could  speak  slowly  a  few  words, 
and  he  repeated  to  me  distinctly  the  Lord's  Prayer. 
17  » 


198  THE    TEACHER. 

Three  years  later  he  was  running  about  the  grounds, 
playing  and  enjoying  himself  with  the  other  chil- 
dren, could  read  and  spell  quite  well,  and  answered 
correctly  many  simple  questions  that  I  put  to  him 
on  various  subjects.  The  transformation  seemed 
almost  miraculous,  and  I  asked  for  information  as 
to  the  steps  by  which  it  had  been  brought  about.  It 
would  take  me  too  long  to  detail  all  these  steps. 
But  one  remark  made  an  indelible  impression  upon 
my  mind.  Said  Mr.  R.,  "  On  looking  at  this  child, 
and  considering  the  question  how  I  should  raise 
him  to  the  ordinary  conditions  of  humanity,  I  be- 
lieved the  first  step  to  be  to  establish  some  connection 
between  his  mind  (if  he  had  a  mind)  and  mine. 
This  connection  must  spring  out  of  sympathy.  The 
child  must  be  made  in  some  way  to  feel  that  there 
was  another  being  like  itself.  So,  after  pondering  the 
matter  for  some  time,  and  in  the  absence  of  all  prece- 
dent to  guide  me,  I  made  the  following  experiment, 
pretty  much  at  a  venture.  About  the  middle  of  the 
morning  I  lay  down  on  the  floor  alongside  of  him, 
and  just  as  he  was  lying,  and  remained  there  an 
hour  or  two  reading  aloud  from  a  book.  I  did  the 
same  thing  in  the  afternoon,  and  so  continued  to  do 
twice  a  day  for  about  a  fortnight,  leaving  him  at  the 
intervals  quite  alone.  When  this  process  had  con- 
tinued so  long  that  I  thought  some  impression  must 
have  been  made,  I  went  in  one  day  and  lay  down  as 
usual,  but  did  not  read.  I  wished  to  see  if  he 
would  notice  the  omission.     The  moment  was  criti- 


THE    TEACHER.  1 99 

cal.  I  watched  with  the  most  intense  anxiety. 
After  three  or  four  minutes  of  silence  I  saw  signs  of 
muscuhir  action,  and  gradually  he  moved  his  head 
and  f\ice  over  toward  me  !  He  was  actually  waiting 
for  me  to  begin  the  customary  noise  1  I  could  hardly 
contain  my  joy.  I  felt  that  from  that  moment  I  had 
him  !  I  had  got  down  to  his  levci.  I  had  estab- 
lished a  connection  between  his  mind  and  mine. 
From  that  day  I  never  began  the  reading  until  he 
signified  his  desire  for  it  by  turning  his  head  over 
toward  me.  Thus  my  first  step  in  raising  him  up 
to  my  level  was  to  get  down  to  his  level." 

14.     Variety  in   Teaching. 

A  mistake  sometimes  made  by  teachers  is  that  of 
proceeding  exactly  in  the  same  way  all  the  year 
round.  I  do  not,  by  any  means,  count  it  as  among 
the  most  common  or  the  most  serious  of  errors  in 
teaching.  Yet  it  is  an  error,  and  a  serious  one,  and 
it  is  usually  committed  by  teachers  who  in  other 
respects  are  worthy  of  high  commendation.  They 
have  in  some  way  formed  for  themselves  a  model  of 
the  manner  in  which  a  lesson  should  be  given,  and 
the}'  follow  it  with  undeviating  uniformity  year  after 
hear. 

Such  a  course  is  at  war  with  the  constitution  of 
the  human  mind.  If  order  is  heaven's  first  law, 
variety  is  the  second.  The  very  best  method  of  pre- 
senting truth,  if  followed  constantly  without  change, 
becomes  tiresome  and  loses  its  attraction.     It  is  so 


200  THE    TEACHER. 

with  our  food.  The  most  wholesome  and  delicious 
articles  of  diet  pall  upon  the  appetite  when  long 
continued.  We  require  change  and  variety  in  what 
we  eat,  whether  we  consult  health  or  pleasure.  The 
soil  requires  rotation  of  crops,  else  it  becomes  im- 
poverished and  barren.  What  a  marvellous  change 
God  has  ordained  in  the  seasons,  giving  us  endless 
alternations  of  summer  and  winter,  heat  and  cold, 
darkness  and  light,  moisture  and  drought !  How  the 
birds  and  the  flowers,  the  grains,  the  fruits  and  the 
vegetables  come  and  go  in  endless  succession  and 
equally  endless  variety  !  All  is  change,  yet  all  is 
order.  Nature,  in  all  her  operations,  seems  equally 
to  abhor  confusion  and  monotony. 

Let  us  learn  a  lesson  from  this  in  our  teaching. 
Let  us  learn  that  the  very  best  methods  of  teaching 
and  training,  of  discipline  and  government,  wear  out. 
They  lose  after  a  while  their  eftect.  Modes  of  stimu- 
lating enthusiasm  or  of  awakening  attention,  of 
securing  punctuality  or  of  enforcing  order,  which  for 
a  time  seemed  perfect,  begin  after  a  time  to  lose 
their  power  upon  the  3'outhful  mind.  Just  as  we 
think  we  have  everything  perfect,  we  are  working 
after  the  latest  and  most  approved  pattern,  our  ma- 
chinery is  complete  and  moving  without  a  flaw,  just 
then  somehow  the  propelling  power  gives  way.  The 
grooves  and  pulleys  are  all  there,  but  the  mind 
ceases  to  run  in  them.  What  a  power  in  the  Sun- 
day-school the  little  blue  and  red  tickets  once  were  ! 
Yet  they  wore  out.     Merit  marks  and  demerit  marks 


THE    TEACHER.  20 1 

and  averages  for  attendance,  recitation  or  conduct, 
produce  for  a  time  prodigious  effects,  and  an  inex- 
perienced teacher,  seeing  the  effect  in  some  particu- 
lar case,  jumps  to  the  conclusion  that  he  has  found 
the  universal  remedy,  and  he  settles  down  upon  a 
system  for  life. 

In  so  doing  he  forgets  one  essential  condition  of 
the  material  upon  which  he  is  acting.  A  worker  in 
wood  or  metal  or  other  material  substance,  having 
invented  the  best  mode  of  fashioning  it  to  suit  his 
purpose,  follows  that  mode  with  undeviating  uni- 
formity, or  until  some  better  mode  is  discovered. 
The  more  closely  he  sticks  to  his  method  and  his 
pattern,  the  more  sure  he  is  of  success.  But  it  is 
quite  otherwise  with  the  worker  upon  mind.  Here 
the  material  upon  which  we  work  is  seldom  twice 
in  the  same  condition.  We  influence  and  mould  the 
mind  of  a  child  only  by  securing  its  own  co-opera- 
tive action.  We  cannot  teach  a  child  by  merely 
pouring  out  knowledge  before  him.  Teaching,  in 
its  very  essence,  and  in  every  stage  of  it,  is  a  co- 
operative process.  And  there  is  no  fact  more  patent 
to  the  thoughtful  observer  than  that  with  children 
methods  wear  out.  They  tire  of  the  same  style  of 
teaching  and  talking,  no  matter  how  good  it  may  be, 
and  when  they  tire  of  the  method,  and  it  ceases  to 
interest  them  and  to  induce  their  active  co-operation, 
the  teacher's  work  is  lost.  He  is  working,  but  doing 
nothing.  Hence  the  imperative  necessity  of  his 
studying  variety. 


202  THE    TEACHER. 

The  teacher  should  study  variety  in  his  manner, 
in  his  topics  and  in  his  iUustrations. 

I.  The  Maitner,  As  to  manner,  it  is,  indeed,  not 
easy  to  attain  the  variety  that  is  desirable.  Every 
one  almost  imperceptibly  and  inevitably  falls  into 
a  certain  style  or  manner  which  becomes  habitual, 
and  w^hich  it  is  of  all  things  the  most  difficult  to 
change  at  will.  One  is  habitually  lively  and  buoy- 
ant ;  another  grave  and  serious.  One  speaks  in  a 
quick,  sharp  tone  ;  another  speaks  mildly  and  per- 
suasively. One  has  the  pleasant  smile  so  attractive 
to  children  ;  another  looks  austere  and  forbidding. 
One  in  speaking  gesticulates  a  great  deal,  his  hands 
and  features  expressing  his  thoughts  almost  as  fully 
as  his  words ;  another  hardly  moves  a  limb  or  a 
muscle  in  talking,  but  depends  for  effect  upon  his 
words  only.  One  is  calm,  impassive,  collected ; 
another  is  ever  boiling  over  with  emotion  of  some 
kind.  Now  there  is  not  a  manner  mentioned  here, 
hardly  a  manner  conceivable  within  the  bounds  of 
ordinary  propriety,  that  has  not  its  uses  and  that 
might  not  be  adopted  on  some  occasions  with  singu- 
lar fitness  and  effect.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is 
no  manner,  conceived  or  conceivable,  that  is  suitable 
for  all  occasions.  There  is  no  manner  that,  if 
adopted  on  all  occasions,  will  not  become  tiresome. 
There  is  no  one  best  manner.  The  teacher  must 
cultivate  the  faculty  of  changing  his  manner  from 
time  to  time  to  suit  the  occasion  and  to  prevent 
monotony.     It  is  not  an  easy  achievement      In  no 


THE    TEACHER.  203 

one  thing  is  it  so  difficult  to  be  various,  and  yet  per- 
haps no  one  faculty  is  so  important.  In  the  case  of 
the  worker  upon  dead  matter,  it  is  of  no  consequence 
whether  he  is  gay  or  grave,  whether  he  smiles  or 
frowns.  The  wood  or  the  metal  is  just  as  pliable 
in  the  one  case  as  the  other.  Not  so  the  child.  If 
you  would  mould  him  according  to  your  wishes,  you 
must  varv  your  own  moods  with  his. 

2.  The  Topics.  The  topics  to  be  presented  in 
teaching  are  literally  infinite,  and  therefore  the 
teacher  has  no  excuse  who  travels  on  in  one  monot- 
onous round  of  subjects.  Variety  even  here,  how- 
ever, will  not  come  unsought.  The  teacher  must 
have  the  wants  of  his  class  on  his  mind  and  be  on 
the  lookout  for  fresh  matter.  All  nature  is  full  of 
subjects  for  instruction.  God's  word  in  this  respect 
is  as  remarkable  as  his  works.  No  book  in  the 
world  is  so  various  in  its  matter  as  the  Bible.  Teach- 
ers and  preachers  sometimes  make  it  monotonous  by 
their  mode  of  handling  it.  They  undertake  to  set 
forth  a  system  of  divinity,  and  then  hunt  up  proof- 
texts  to  establish  their  system.  Of  course  I  do 
not  object  to  systems  of  doctrine.  The  teacher  must 
have  his  doctrinal  scheme.  But  in  teaching  a  class, 
if  he  wants  to  avoid  running  into  a  rut,  he  had  better 
take  texts  or  passages  as  he  finds  them,  study  them 
in  their  connection,  and  follow  out  each  text  or  pas- 
sage to  its  natural  results  in  doctrine  and  practice. 
Studied  in  this  way — that  is,  textually  rather  than 
topically — the  Bible  presents  an  endless  variety.     If 


204  THE    TEACHER. 

a  preacher  discusses  from  the  pulpit  in  logical  ordei 
the  subject  of  repentance,  for  instance,  or  faith,  or 
any  other  great  doctrine,  he  cannot  very  easily  renew 
it  Sunday  after  Sunday  without  repeating  himself. 
But  he  may  expound  on  one  Sunday  the  case  of 
Peter,  on  another  that  of  Felix,  again  that  of  Saul, 
and  so  on,  taking  each  case  with  its  circumstances, 
and  thus  ever  having  something  new  and  diflerent 
from  that  presented  before. 

3.  The  Illustrations.  As  with  subjects,  so  with 
illustrations.  There  is  no  end  to  the  number  of  illus- 
trations that  may  be  had  for  the  asking,  and  no  limit 
— almost — to  the  power  which  they  give  over  the 
youthful  mind.  But  to  most  persons  they  do  not 
come  unbidden.  We  must  in  this  matter  cultivate 
the  inventive  faculty.  In  doing  so  it  is  well  to  study 
the  writings  of  those  who  are  masters  of  the  art, 
and  this  not  for  the  purpose  of  borrowing  the  illus- 
trations made  by  others,  but  to  get  into  the  spirit  of 
it.  There  is  a  book  called  "Illustrative  Gatherings" 
from  which  much  may  be  learned  in  this  line.  Read 
every  week  a  chapter  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Todd  or 
Dr.  Newton,  and  see  how  they  enforce  every  point 
by  an  apt  illustration  which  makes  the  doctrine  take 
fast  hold  of  the  youthful  mind.  Dr.  Guthrie,  the 
Scotch  preacher,  is  admirable  in  this  way.  A  mind 
that  has  any  inventive  faculty  of  its  own  could  hardly 
fail  to  find  out  some  good,  fresh  simile  after  reading 
one  of  Dr.  Guthrie's  lectures  on  the  parables.  In 
recommending  the   study  of  such  works,  I  do   not 


THE    TEACHER.  205 

advise  the  teacher  to  borrow  or  to  imitate  the  similes 
which  he  finds.  But  by  habitually  reading  works 
of  this  kind  his  own  mind  will  gradually  learn  to 
think  out  apt  comparisons. 

4.  Preshness.  What  the  teacher  needs  is  to  keep 
himself  always  fresh.  Principles  are  eternal,  but 
methods  change.  There  is  7zo  one  best  ?neikod  of 
teaching  or  governing.  Eternal  vigilance  must  be 
the  teacher's  motto.  Of  course  there  must  be  some 
stability  in  the  operations  of  a  school  or  of  a  class. 
But  be  ever  on  the  lookout ;  and  when  you  find  the 
little  ones  flagging  in  interest,  and  the  methods  which 
for  six  months  or  a  year  seemed  to  be  working  won- 
ders now  losing  their  hold,  try  something  else.  The 
teacher's  business,  more  even  than  that  of  the  me- 
chanic, requires  invention.  The  secret  of  the  power 
exercised  over  young  minds  by  such  writers  as  Jacob 
Abbott  and  John  Todd,  and  this  new  French  writer, 
Jean  Mace,  is  their  marvellous  power  of  invention. 
God  has  not  endowed  us  all  with  this  gift  in  an  equal 
degree.  But  it  is  a  faculty  that  we  should  cultivate, 
and  we  may  all,  by  diligent  reading  and  observation, 
keep  ourselves  familiar  with  the  devices  and  ingeni- 
ous thoughts  of  others. 

One  of  the  very  best  means  for  a  teacher  to  keep 
himself  from  monotony  and  stupefying  routine  is  to 
attend  teachers'  institutes  and  conventions.  There 
he  comes  into  contact  with  other  minds  and  is  made 
acquainted  with  other  methods.  His  own  mind  is 
stirred  up,  and  he  returns  to  his  work  with  new  ideas. 

}S 


2o6  THE    TEACHER. 

These  new  ideas  are  not  necessarily  better  in  them- 
selves than  the  old  ones,  but  they  are  new,  and  by 
that  very  quality  have  a  power  and  vitality  which 
the  old  ones  have  ceased  to  have. 

Another  method  by  which  a  teacher  may  deliver 
himself  from  the  bondage  of  routine  is  to  take  a 
teachers'  paper.  A  paper  like  The  Sunday-School 
Times  is  a  sort  of  permanent  institute.  The  teacher 
in  reading  it  is  every  week  brought  into  communion 
with  other  teachers  from  every  part  of  the  land,  and 
made  familiar  with  the  various  methods  which  the 
ingenious  and  inventive  are  devising  for  the  improve- 
ment of  schools  ;  and  though  ninety-nine  out  of  a 
hundred  of  these  suggestions  may  be  for  him  im- 
practicable, yet  even  if  the  hundredth  gives  him  a 
practicable  improvement  he  is  well  rewarded.  The 
Sunday-school  teacher  who  neglects  to  take  a  teach- 
ers' paper  must  either  think  himself  too  wise  to  need 
instruction,  or  must  be  strangely  indifferent  to  the 
wants  of  his  class. 

Some  books  are  printed  from  stereotype  plates, 
others  from  movable  types,  that  is,  the  types  are 
reset  for  each  new  edition.  If  the  printers  will  allow 
me  to  take  an  illustration  from  their  trade,  I  would 
say  that  the  teacher's  methods  should  never  be  stereo- 
typed. Every  new  edition  should  be  made  from 
movable  types. 

15.    Giving  a  Definite  Lesson, 
A  few  sections  back  I  spoke  of  the  difference  be- 


THE    TEACHER.  207 

tween  the  Sunday-school  and  other  schools.  I  will 
now  notice  one  at  least  of  the  points  of  resemblance. 

A  school  of  any  kind,  so  far  as  it  is  a  school  at  all, 
is  a  place  for  definite  work.  It  is  not  a  sort  of  youths' 
mass-meeting,  or  a  prayer-meeting,  or  a  convention,  or 
a  religious  sociable,  but  a  place  for  teaching  on  the  one 
side  and  learning  on  the  other,  where  lessons  are  to  be 
assigned  and  definite  progress  in  knowledge  is  aimed 
at.  In  the  daily  school  this  knowledge  is  for  the 
most  part  of  a  secular  kind,  and  there  is  by  the  al- 
most universal  consent  of  educators  a  certain  routine 
of  studies  to  be  followed.  If  a  child  begins  his  arith- 
metic and  goes  to  school  for  a  certain  length  of  time, 
the  parent  expects  him  to  be  advanced  from  rule  to 
rule  until  the  subject  is  mastered,  and  then  to  take 
up  whatever  study  is  next  in  order.  When  the  child 
comes  home  in  the  evening  he  has  his  lessons  to 
learn  for  the  following  day.  What  would  a  parent 
think  of  the  school  if  his  children  on  being  interro- 
gated did  not  seem  to  know  what  they  were  study- 
ing in  school — whether  they  were  studving  arith- 
metic, or  geography,  or  grammar,  or  history  ;  or  if 
history,  whether  it  was  the  history  of  France,  of  Eng- 
land or  of  the  United  States — who  did  not  know  what 
part  of  the  book  they  were  in,  but  their  teacher  took 
up  sometimes  one  part  and  sometimes  another,  some- 
times talked  about  it,  and  sometimes  entertained 
them  by  reading  interesting  extracts  from  the  news- 
papers .-* 

I  am  sorry  to  say  this  is  no  caricature  of  what  is 


2o8         .  THE    TEACHER. 

clone  by  a  good  many  Sunday-school  teachers.  The 
hour  spent  by  the  teacher  with  his  class  is  nothing 
more  than  a  pleasant  religious  sociable.  The  little 
ones  have  a  good  time,  get  their  librar}'  books  and 
papers,  enjoy  the  singing,  and  that  is  all.  They 
make  no  definite  progress  in  religious  knowledge. 
They  know  no  more  about  the  contents  of  the  sacred 
volume  at  the  end  of  the  year  than  they  did  at  the 
beginning.  A  gentleman  told  me  not  many  weeks 
since  that  his  children  seemed  very  fond  of  the 
Sunday-school  and  of  their  teacher,  but  he  never 
could  find  out  from  them  that  they  had  any  lessons 
to  learn  or  any  preparation  to  make.  They  did  not 
know  whether  they  were  studying  in  Matthew  or 
Genesis  or  Psalms.  They  had  no  question-book, 
they  were  not  required  to  commit  any  verses  to  mem 
ory.  When  they  came  together  on  the  Sabbath  the 
teacher  selected  a  chapter,  sometimes  in  one  part  of 
the  Bible,  sometimes  in  another,  and  read  it  to  them, 
or  they  read  it  verse  about.  Then  she  talked  to 
them  about  it  for  a  while,  and  when  that  failed  she 
read  to  them  some  of  the  pretty  little  stories  from 
the  Child's  Department  of  the  New  Tork  Observe}'. 
Any  one  going  into  the  school  where  this  teacher  is 
engaged,  and  looking  casually  at  the  class,  would 
gather  the  impression  that  they  were  legitimately 
engaged  in  study  and  recitation.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  the  Observer  part  of  the  business,  the  whole 
affair  may  have  the  appearance  of  a  regular  school 
exercise. 


THE    TEACHER.  209 

I  fear  there  are  a  great  many  such  classes  and 
teachers,  and  I  desire  to  raise  my  voice  against  it  in 
earnest  remonstrance.  This  whole  thing  is  wronof. 
It  is  an  awful  wickedness  thus  to  allow  the  hours  of 
religious  instruction  to  run  to  waste.  Every  scholar 
who  goes  to  Sunday-school  should  have  some  defin- 
ite plan  of  study  placed  before  him,  and  should  have 
a  definite  lesson  to  learn  for  each  session  of  the 
school.  The  teacher  or  the  superintendent  who  has 
no  such  aim,  and  allows  things  to  go  at  loose  ends 
in  the  manner  described,  has  yet  to  learn  what  a 
school  is.  The  teacher  may  not  always  be  able  to 
secure  from  the  scholar  adequate  preparation  of  the 
lesson  assigned.  Many  parents  are  grossly  derelict 
in  this  matter,  and  give  no  co-operation  in  regard  to 
the  Sunday  lesson.  But  in  the  case  to  which  I  have 
referred,  the  parent  was  anxious  to  give  this  co-oper- 
ation, and  gathered  his  children  about  him  on  Sun- 
day evening  for  the  purpose  of  going  over  the  lesson 
of  the  next  Sunday  with  them  and  seeing  that  they 
had  it  duly  prepared.  But  no  lesson  had  been  as- 
signed. Nor  was  it  a  mission-school,  with  chance 
scholars  attending  irregularly,  coming  and  going 
according  to  childish  caprice,  but  a  school  of  con- 
siderable celebrity,  in  a  well-known  and  influential 
church  in  one  of  our  large  cities. 

Definite  lessons  and  a  plan  of  study  are  the  indis- 
pensable conditions  of  a  school.  Just  so  far  as  these 
conditions  are  wanting  it  ceases  to  be  a  school  and 
becomes  a  mere  social  gathering.     The  highest  state 

18*  0 


2IO  THE    TEACHER. 

of  efficiency  attainable  in  a  Sunday-school  is  that  in 
which  all  the  school  has  one  lesson,  the  higher  and 
the  lower  classes  studying  it  with  varying  degrees  of 
minuteness,  and  the  superintendent  and  teachers 
meeting  weekly  to  go  over  the  lesson  together. 
When  this  point  cannot  be,  or  is  not,  gained,  the 
next  best  thing  is  for  all  the  scholars  in  a  class  to 
have  the  same  lesson.  There  ma}^  be  good  schools, 
however,  in  some  of  the  classes  of  which  even  this 
point  is  not  secured.  There  may  be  classes  in  which 
every  scholar  is  studying  on  his  own  hook  and  re- 
citing separately.  But  even  in  this  extreme  case  the 
individual  scholar  should  have  a  definite  lesson 
assigned  him  and  a  plan  and  course  of  study  marked 
out.  The  teacher  who  neglects  so  plain  a  duty  has 
no  claim  to  the  name  of  teacher.  He  is  a  mere 
social  visitor,  who  comes  to  have  a  pleasant  chat 
with  the  children.  The  superintendent  is  unfaithful 
to  his  stewardship  who  allows  such  things  to  be. 

1 6.    Preparation  for  t7ie  Lesson, 

The  temerity  of  undertaking  to  give  a  lesson  to  a 
class  without  making  preparation  for  it  is  amazing. 
It  is  only  equalled  by  the  man  who  undertakes  to 
preach  without  preparation.  Teachers  complain 
that  they  have  such  a  hard  class,  that  they  have  not 
the  natural  talents  and  gifts  for  the  work  which  God 
has  given  to  others,  that  they  cannot  keep  the  atten- 
tion of  their  scholars,  and  so  on  through  the  whole 
catalogue  of  complaints,  while  the  real  difficulty  half 


THE    TEACHER.  211 

the  time  is  that  they  are  unwiUing  to  bestow  the 
labor  needed  for  suitable  preparation. 

There  are  some  teachers  in  almost  every  Sunday- 
school  who  have  no  regular  class,  or  whose  class  is 
made  up  of  odds  and  ends — children  just  brought 
into  the  school  and  not  yet  assigned  to  any  class,  or 
children  whose  regular  teacher  is  unexpectedly -ab- 
sent. Such  teachers  are  very  useful.  Their  work 
is  most  uninteresting,  but  not  the  less  important  to 
the  school.  Every  superintendent  needs  one  or  more 
faithful  workers  of  this  kind.  Such  teachers  need  a 
weekly  preparation  for  their  duties,  but  not  of  the 
kind  I  am  now  about  to  speak  of.  My  remarks  are 
intended  for  those  who  have  regular  classes  and  a 
common  lesson. 

There  is  a  preparation  of  a  general  kind  which 
every  teacher  needs.  It  is  important  that  every 
teacher  should  be  a  person  of  general  information 
and  culture,  that  he  should  have  a  good  address  and 
pleasant  manners,  which  come  much  more  from  care 
and  painstaking  than  from  nature  ;  above  all,  that  he 
should  have  that  preparation  of  the  heart  which 
comes  from  earnest,  devoted  piety.  But  it  is  not 
this  general  preparation  which  I  have  now  in  view. 
What  I  recommend  to  the  teacher  is  that  he  make 
specific  preparation  for  every  lesson  to  his  class. 

The  lesson  to  his  class.  The  phraseology  is  not 
an  inadvertence.  The  lesson  of  the  class  is  that 
which  the  class  are  expected  to  learn.  But  teachers 
who  mean  to  be  good  for  anything  must  learn  as 


312  THE    TEACHER. 

soon  as  possible  to  get  rid  of  the  idea  that  teaching 
is  merely  hearing  recitations.  In  this  interview  be- 
tween the  teacher  and  the  class,  called  a  recitation, 
not  only  the  scholars  must  be  prepared  to  bring 
something  to  the  teacher,  but  the  teacher  must  be 
prepared  to  bring  something  to  the  scholars.  Schol- 
ars come  to  learn  as  well  as  to  say  what  they  have 
learned.  Scholars  who  have  a  good  teacher  always 
come  to  the  class  in  a  spirit  of  expectancy.  See  to 
it  that  this  expectant  spirit  never  goes  away  unre- 
warded. See  that  you  know  the  lesson  more  minutely 
and  exhaustively  than  any  of  your  scholars  do.  A 
teacher  may  conclude  that  he  has  reached  the  right 
idea  on  this  subject  if,  when  speaking  of  his  work, 
he  unconsciously  talks  oi giving  a  lesson  to  his  class., 
instead  of  saying  that  he  is  going  to  hear  the  lesson. 
The  teacher  who  goes  to  his  class  without  the  specific 
preparation  which  this  phraseology  implies  is  just  as 
derelict  as  would  be  the  minister  who  should  go 
into  the  pulpit  without  having  a  prepared  sermon, 
or  the  lawyer  who  should  go  into  court  without 
having  studied  the  case  of  his  client  or  prepared  the 
necessary  papers. 

Let  us  come  to  particulars. 

I.  Com7nitting  the  Verses  to  Memory.  The 
lesson,  as  now  assigned  in  most  schools,  consists  of 
a  short  passage  of  Scripture,  with  questions  upon  it, 
and  references.  The  first  thing  to  be  done  in  the 
preparation  of  such  a  lesson — the  thing  absolutely 
indispensable,  the  thing  which  is  the  foundation  of 


THE    TEACHER.  213 

everything  else,  and  without  wliich  all  other  labor 
will  be  merely  building  upon  sand — is  to  co7nmit 
these  verses  to  me??iory.  That,  and  that  only,  is  the 
solid  rock  on  which  all  the  superstructure  must 
stand.  The  teacher  who  is  not  able,  on  coming  be- 
fore his  class,  to  close  his  book  and  repeat  the  text 
of  the  lesson  without  hesitation  and  without  missing 
a  word  or  a  syllable,  is  not  prepared.  He  might 
almost  as  well  undertake  to  teach  reading  without 
knowing  the  alphabet.  The  first  exercise  in  the 
recitation  ought  to  be  for  the  class  to  recite  the 
verses  in  this  way  to  the  teacher,  and  the  teacher 
ought  to  be  able  to  follow  them  in  the  exercise  and 
correct  their  mistakes  without  looking  at  the  book 
himself. 

I  have  adverted  to  this  topic  several  times  already. 
But  I  am  disposed  to  reiterate  the  remark  and  to 
emphasize  it,  because  there  is  a  widely-prevalent 
and  m-ischievous  mistake  just  here.  Teachers  some- 
times bestow  a  great  deal  of  labor  and  research  in 
hunting  up  some  far-fetched  and  perhaps  fanciful 
illustration,  or  going  oti'  into  some  curious  theologi- 
cal or  antiquarian  issue,  while  neglecting  the  plain 
truths  which  lie  right  on  the  surface.  The  first 
thing  for  scholars  and  teachers  is  to  know  the  words 
of  the  lesson.  Let  this  part  of  your  preparation  be 
done  thoroughly,  not  as  children  often  commit  to 
memory,  being  barely  able  to  get  through  a  piece  if 
you  prompt  them  every  few  words.  Learn  the  pas- 
sage  as  you    know   the  Lord's    Prayer   or  the  Ten 


214  THE    TEACHER. 

Commandments.  The  teacher  should  know  the 
words  of  the  lesson  from  beginning  to  end,  so  as  to 
be  able  to  say  them  or  hear  the  children  say  them 
without  having  ever  to  look  at  the  book.  This,  of 
course,  will  involve  some  labor.  It  is  more  difficult 
for  grown  persons  to  commit  to  memory  than  it  is 
for  children.  We  may  learn  a  portion  of  Scripture 
after  a  fashion  without  much  labor.  But  to  make 
even  a  dozen  verses  every  week  thus  thoroughly 
one's  own  requires  time,  toil  and  resolute  determina- 
tion. But  no  toil  yields  so  sure  or  precious  a  reward. 
We  all  have  a  considerable  amount  of  general  in- 
formation about  the  Scriptures.  But  how  little  is 
our  stock  of  precise  and  thoroughly  accurate  knotv- 
ledge  of  God's  Word !  The  teacher  who  every 
week  adds  to  his  store  only  eight  or  ten  verses  of 
Holy  Scripture,  completely  mastered  and  fixed  in 
the  memory,  is  insensibly  but  steadily  growing  rich 
in  Bible  lore.  Such  an  acquisition  is,  in  the  first 
place,  an  unspeakable  blessing  to  himself.  But  be- 
sides this,  it  gives  him  a  power  before  his  class  that 
nothing  else  can  give.  It  enables  him  to  accomplish 
twice  the  amount  of  work  in  the  way  of  instruction, 
besides  the  influence  which  his  example  will  have 
in  inducing  the  children  to  do  the  same  thing.  The 
verses  are  the  foundation  for  the  lessqn.  If  teachers 
and  scholars  will  learn  these  and  have  them  in  their 
memory,  they  have  something  to  build  on.  With- 
out this  preliminary  step  all  other  preparation  on 
the  part  of  either  teacher  or  scholar  is  of  little  ac- 


THE    TEACHER.  215 

count.     It  is  making  bricks  without  straw — almost 
without  clay. 

2.  The  Parallel  Texts.  The  teacher  should 
have  some  definite  plan  in  his  mind  in  regard  to  the 
parallel  texts  referred  to  in  the  question-book.  Some 
teachers  commit  these  to  memory  and  require  their 
pupils  to  do  so.  Of  course  there  can  be  no  objection 
to  such  a  plan,  if  a  teacher  and  a  class  will  carry  it  out. 
But  in  ordinary  cases  I  would  not  recommend  it. 
Far  better  that  the  verses  which  form  the  main  les- 
son should  be  thoroughly  learned  than  that  both 
the  verses  and  the  parallel  texts  should  be  half 
learned.  The  compilers  of  our  question-books  have 
not  usually  bestowed  the  amount  of  care  upon  the 
references  which  the  importance  of  the  subject  re- 
quires. References  are  often  made  to  passages  that 
have  almost  nothing  to  do  with  the  lesson,  and  to 
long  paragraphs  and  even  to  chapters  which  neither 
teacher  nor  scholars  can  be  expected  to  learn.  Let 
the  teacher  examine  carefully  those  parallel  texts, 
see  exactly  how  they  illustrate  the  verse  referred  to, 
prepare  himself  to  point  out  readily  and  clearly  the 
analogy,  and  tax  his  memory  with  the  chapter  and 
verse  and  the  exact  place  in  his  Bible  where  the 
parallel  passage  is  to  be  found,  so  as  to  be  able  at 
once,  without  a  moment's  hesitation,  to  turn  to  it. 
This  is  the  kind  of  preparation  which  I  recommend 
the  teacher  to  make,  and  to  urge  his  pupils  to  make, 
in  regard  to  the  parallel  texts. 

3.  Use  of  the   ^uestio?i-Book.     Let  the  teacher 


2l6  THE    TEACHER. 

use  the  question-book  and  encourage  the  pupils  to 
use  it,  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  to  understand  the 
passage,  or  of  suggesting  some  of  its  practical  appli- 
cations. This  is  the  true  and  only  design  of  a  ques- 
tion-book. It  is  a  book  to  be  used  in  preparing  a 
lesson,  not  in  hearing  or  reciting  it.  The  questions 
often  suggest  points  that  may  escape  the  attention  of 
the  teacher.  I  would  not  discard  the  book,  there- 
fore. Only  let  it  be  properly  used.  To  use  it  as  is 
commonly  done,  however,  is  a  great  abuse.  Noth- 
ing is  more  common  than  to  see  a  class  and  their 
teacher  confronting  each  other,  each  with  question- 
book  in  one  hand  and  the  Bible  in  the  other,  the 
teacher  reading  the  question  and  the  pupil  reading 
the  answer.  If  those  good  men  who  first  invented 
our  question-books  had  dreamed  that  any  such  abuse 
would  have  grown  out  of  them,  I  am  sure  they 
would  have  wished  their  invention  at  the  bottom  of 
the  sea.  Before  beginning  the  recitation  let  the 
question-book  (the  teacher's  as  well  as  the  scholars') 
be  collected  and  piled,  and  not  one  of  them  be 
opened  by  teacher  or  scholar  until  the  lesson  is  over. 
In  anticipation  of  such  an  experiment  as  this,  the 
teacher's  preparatory  study  of  the  questions  will  be 
far  different  from  what  it  ordinarily  is.  He  will  find 
it  necessary  to  get  the  subject  itself,  not  the  mere 
verbal  questions,  in  his  mind.  With  his  mind  ful! 
of  the  subject,  however,  he  can  frame  his  own  ques- 
tions, if  he  cannot  read  those  in  the  book.  Be  it 
ever  remembered,  the  lesson  is  not  the  questions, 


THE    TEACHER.  21 7 

but  the  portion  of  holy  Scripture   standing  at  the 
head.     That  is  what  we  ought  mainly  to  study. 

4.  Additional  Illustrations.  Let  the  teacher 
always  aim  to  get  some  points  of  information  and 
illustration  not  suggested  by  the  question-book.  The 
sources  of  these  are  numerous,  and  vary  with  the  sub- 
ject and  the  portion  of  Scripture  under  review. 
Commentaries,  Bible  dictionaries,  books  of  travel  in 
the  Holy  Land  and  Scripture  atlases  are  the  chief 
aids  in  this  respect.  What  I  advise  is,  not  a  large 
amount  of  such  illustrations,  but  one  or  two  well- 
selected  examples  for  each  lesson,  enough  to  create 
expectancy  on  the  part  of  the  pupils,  and  let  these 
illustrations  be  so  thoroughly  prepared  and  canvassed 
by  the  teacher  in  his  own  mind  that  there  will  be  no 
hesitation  or  want  of  clearness  in  his  mode  of  pre- 
senting them  to  the  class.  The  fact  that  the  teacher 
always  has  some  fresh  materials  of  this  kind  for  the 
illustration  of  the  lesson  will  gradually  give  him  an 
authority  and  influence  over  the  minds  of  his  schol- 
ars that  can  be  acquired  in  no  other  way.  The 
children  will  feel  that  he  is  really  a  teacher,  not  a 
mere  hearer  of  lessons. 

5.  Critical  Study  of  the  Meaning.  The  teacher 
should  set  himself  to  study  out  the  meaning  of  every 
part  by  the  aid  of  commentaries  and  works  of  refer- 
ence. So  much  has  been  saitl  on  this  point  that  I 
do  not  think  it  necessary  to  dwell  upon  it.  But  tliere 
is  one  feature  in  this  part  of  the  teacher's  prepara- 
tion which   is  apt  to  escape  the  notice  of  the  inex- 

19 


2l8  THE    TEACHER. 

perienced.  The  young  teacher  is  apt  to  think  it  is 
quite  enough  for  him  if  by  study  and  research  he 
actually  discovers  the  meaning  of  a  passage.  In 
course  of  time,  however,  he  awakes  to  the  fact  that 
many  thoughts  which  seemed  quite  clear  and  plain 
to  him  at  the  time  of  study  have  somehow  gone  from 
him  when  he  comes  before  his  class.  He  finds  that 
he  must  not  only  hunt  up  a  thing,  or  think  it  out,, 
but  he  must  then  ponder  it  and  turn  it  over  and  over 
in  his  mind,  and  inquire  again  and  again  how  he 
would  present  it  to  his  class,  so  as  to  become  per- 
fectly familiar  with  it.  This  is  the  difference  be- 
tween ordinary  knowledge  of  a  thing  and  that  know- 
ledge of  it  which  is  needed  for  the  teacher.  We 
must  hQj'amiliar  with  any  thought  or  subject  before 
undertaking  to  teach  it.  Knowledge  which  comes 
to  the  tongue  only  after  hesitation  and  by  a  slow  and 
measured  process  is  of  no  avail  to  the  teacher. 
Readiness  is  indispensable  to  a  good  teacher.  What 
he  undertakes  to  teach  to  a  class  should  be  at  the  tip 
of  his  tongue,  and  this  readiness  requires  something 
more  than  going  over  the  lesson  once,  no  matter 
how  careful  that  study  of  it  may  have  been. 

After  studying  the  lesson,  therefore,  and  satisfying 
himself  that  he  understands  it  thoroughly,  let  him 
next  go  over  the  various  points  again  and  again,  a 
hundred  times  if  need  be,  until  he  knows  all  the  ins 
and  outs  of  tlie  lesson  just  as  familiarly  as  he  knov/s 
the  way  to  the  school-house.  This  readiness  is  more 
easy  and  natural  to  some  than  to  others,  but  it  is 


THE    TEACHER.  219 

within  the  reach  of  every  one  who  will  take  the 
necessary  pains. 

6.  Practical  Thoughts.  The  teacher  in  the 
course  of  his  preparation  should  fix  upon  a  certain 
leading  thought,  or  thoughts,  on  which  to  concen- 
trate the  thoughts  of  the  class.  The  Sunday  lesson 
should  be  something  more  than  a  mere  intellectual 
exercise.  It  should  always  have  a  practical  bearing 
upon  the  moral  state  and  condition  of  the  class.  All 
Bible  study  has  for  its  object  not  merely  intellectual 
knowledge,  but  the  improvement  of  the  heart  and  of 
the  life.  No  Sunday-school  lesson  is  complete  unless 
it  conveys  some  truth  which  is  to  affect  the  heart 
and  conduct  of  the  pupils.  This  is  the  great  differ- 
ence between  the  Sunday  lesson  and  a  lesson  in 
arithmetic  or  grammar.  The  teacher  should  ask 
himself,  How  can  I  make  this  a  means  of  spiritual 
benefit  to  my  scholars.''  What  is  there  in  it  which 
has  a  lesson  for  them  in  their  present  condition  ?  and 
how  shall  I  so  shape  the  course  of  the  lesson  as  to 
bring  out  this  point  in  an  easy  and  natural  manner.? 

The  lessons  assigned  in  our  question-books  usually 
contain  several  such  practical  suggestions.  Some 
of  these  are  more  applicable  to  one  class  of  scholars, 
some  to  others.  The  teacher  will  be  most  likely,  in 
ordinary  cases,  to  accomplish  practical  results,  if 
each  Sunday  he  will  limit  his  exertions  to  some  one 
point.  After  studying  a  lesson  thoroughly,  let  him 
think  what  one  of  its  many  teachings  is  most  espe- 
cially suitable  to  his  particular  class,  and  let  him  lay 


220  THE    TEACHER. 

out  his  strength  upon  that.  Having  made  this 
selection,  he  will  be  surprised,  on  going  over  the 
lesson  again,  how  many  things  he  can  find  in  it 
bearing  upon  that  point. 

The  teacher  fails  in  his  preparation  who  does  not 
mature  some  definite  idea  of  this  kind  for  each  lesson, 
and  who  leaves  this  practical  application  to  the  im- 
pulse of  the  moment  and  the  chapter  of  accidents. 

7.  Beginning  Early  In  the  Week.  Nothing 
can  be  plainer  than  that  the  teacher  should  begin 
his  preparation  for  the  Sunday  lesson  early  in  the 
preceding  week.  The  best  time  is  on  the  Sunday 
evening  previous.  If  the  main  preparation  be  made 
then,  and  the  subject  be  thus  early  fixed  in  his  mind, 
thoughts  and  illustrations  will  be  occurring  inci- 
dentally all  the  week  long.  Having  thus  prepared 
the  lesson  on  Sunday  evening,  pondered  over  it  dur- 
ing the  week,  and  given  it  a  careful  revision  on  Sat- 
urday evening,  with  an  earnest  cry  to  the  great 
Teacher  for  help  and  wisdom,  let  him  go  before  his 
class  on  the  Sabbath  with  a  full  assurance  that  his 
labor  and  study  will  not  be  in  vain. 

8.  Seekhig  Aid  frotn  the  Great  Teacher.  Lastly, 
let  the  teacher  not  fail  to  ask  and  entreat  for  the 
guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  In  nothing  do  we  so 
much  need  the  aid  of  the  Divine  mind  as  in  our  at- 
tempts to  influence  a  human  mind.  Private  prayer 
should  go  hand  in  hand  with  private  study  in  every 
stage  of  the  teacher's  preparation  for  his  work. 


THE    TEACHER.  221 

1 7.    Getting  the  Scholars  to  Learn  the  Lesson. 

Many  teachers  are  studious  themselves,  but  they 
fail  to  make  their  scholars  studious.  The  teacher  is 
becoming  rich  in  biblical  knowledge,  but  the  scholar 
is  learning  nothing.  Such  an  order  of  things  obvi 
ously  is  a  grave  evil.  While  the  teacher  is  benefited 
by  his  work,  that  benefit  is  only  an  incident,  not  the 
end,  of  Sunday-school  instruction.  The  school  fails  of 
its  main  end  if  benefits  do  not  accrue  to  the  scholars. 
The  school  or  the  class  is  to  a  great  degree  a  failure 
if  the  scholars  do  not  habitually  prepare  a  lesson. 
If  they  come  to  school  merely  to  hear  explanations, 
merely  to  be  talked  to,  their  coming  is  not  absolutely 
useless,  but  they  might  almost  as  well  stay  away. 
Real  improvement  of  any  kind  is  not  something  to 
be  received  passively,  not  something  which  you  can 
pour  into  persons  as  you  would  pour  water  into  a 
vessel,  not  something  which  you  can  put  on  them  as 
you  would  dress  them  up  in  fine  clothes,  but  some- 
thing which  must  grow  up  within  them  by  the  ac- 
tive exertion  of  their  own  powers.  You  might  as 
well  chew  and  digest  the  child's  food  as  to  undertake 
to  do  all  his  intellectual  work  for  him.  There  is  no 
such  thing  as  learning  without  study  and  work  on 
the  part  of  the  learner.  If  he  studies  and  works  for 
himself,  then  your  work  and  study  in  his  behalf  will 
be  a  help  to  him.  Otherwise  they  will  be,  so 
far  as  he  is  concerned,  mere  water  spilled  on  the 
ground. 
19* 


222  THE    TEACHER. 

How  can  an  idle,  indifferent  scholar  be  induced  to 
prepare  his  Sunday  lesson  ? 

Not  by  railing  at  him.  I  have  not  much  faith  in 
scolding  on  any  subject,  and  certainly  I  never  saw 
an  idle  scholar  made  industrious  by  calling  him  hard 
names  and  heaping  abuse  on  his  head.  You  may 
thereby  make  him  sulien,  or  you  may  drive  him  from 
school,  but  you  will  not  make  him  love  study. 

There  is  nothing  that  children  need  so  much  as 
encouragement.  One  half  the  failures  in  school 
come  from  the  idea  which  the  child  has  got,  that  he 
cannot  do  the  thing  required.  Perhaps  he  has  at- 
tempted it  once,  and  his  awkwardness  has  been 
laughed  at.  Perhaps  he  is  slow  of  speech.  He  has 
not  the  natural  glibness  of  tongue  which  some  of  the 
other  children  have,  and  he  is  driven  into  silence, 
and  then  is  discouraged  altogether,  because  he  thinks 
there  is  no  use  of  his  trying.  A  Government  con- 
tractor, who  had  been  largely  concerned  in  the  pur- 
chase and  training  of  mules,  informed  me  once  that 
the  sullen  stubbornness  of  that  animal,  which  is  so 
proverbial  as  to  have  given  a  new  word  to  the  dic- 
tionary, is  really  a  mistake  in  our  estimate  of  the 
animal's  character ;  that  the  mulishness  of  the  mule 
is  only  his  timidity  and  want  of  confidence  in  him- 
self; that  if  you  treat  him  with  kindness,  awaken  in 
him  confidence  in  yourself,  try  him  at  first  on  such 
things  only  as  he  plainly  sees  that  he  can  do,  and 
thus  gradually  educate  him  to  self-confidence,  you 
will  find  him  in  the  end  more  tractable  and  docile 


THE    TEACHER.  223 

than  even  the  horse.  But  he  must  have  encourage- 
ment.    He  is  by  nature  timid  and  diffident. 

Mucli  of  the  so-called  mulishness  of  children  is 
only  timidity  driven  into  sullenness.  What  is  needed 
in  such  cases  is  not  the  sickening  flattery  in  whic'i 
some  teachers  indulge,  but  ingenuity  in  creating  in 
the  child's  mind  a  spirit  of  hopefulness,  a  conviction 
that  he  as  well  as  the  others  can  do  something. 
There  is  a  fine  thought  on  this  subject  in  Virgil. 
He  is  describing  the  glow  of  earnest  enthusiasm 
with  whicli  the  men  engaged  in  the  boat  race  press 
forward  towards  their  coveted  goal.  Under  the  in- 
fluence of  this  hopeful  spirit  all  the  difficulties  in 
their  way  seem  to  vanish  ;  they  achieve  what  is  ap- 
parently impossible,  because  it  seems  possible  to 
them.  Possunt^  quia  posse  vidoitiir.  They  are 
able  because  they  seem  to  themselves  to  be  able  ; 
they  could  do  it  because  they  thought  they  could  do 
it.  Making  a  child  think  he  can  master  a  task  is 
half  the  battle. 

How  shall  this  feeling  be  created  in  the  mind  of  a 
child  who  is  naturally  timid,  or  who  is  really  de- 
ficient either  in  mental  training  or  in  mental  power? 

One  way  is  to  find  out  something  that  the  child 
can  do,  and  do  well — if  possible,  something  that  the 
child  can  do  better  than  any  one  else  in  the  class. 
The  depressing  effect  of  a  sense  of  inferiority  is  thus 
removed,  and  in  its  place  springs  up  hopefulness. 
A  most  remarkable  instance  of  this  kind  once  came 
under  my  own  observation.     A  young  lady  seemed 


224  THE    TEACHER. 

entirely  unable  to  learn  the  lessons  of  her  class. 
Grammar,  geography,  arithmetic,  history,  whatever 
the  subject  of  study  was,  it  seemed  equally  beyond 
the  reach  of  her  capacity.  As  a  consequence,  she 
had  almost  ceased  trying  to  learn.  She  became  in- 
different and  careless,  showed  no  ambition,  and  was 
rapidly  falling  into  habits  of  recklessness  and  insub- 
ordination. The  first  thing  that  changed  the  current 
of  her  thoughts  was  the  accidental  discovery  that  she 
had  a  talent  for  drawing'.  The  talent  was  at  once 
fostered.  Special  opportunities  were  given  for  prac- 
tice. Her  efforts  and  successes  were  brought  into  no- 
tice by  exhibition  and  commendation.  Here  was 
something  that  she  could  do  better  than  any  of  her 
classmates.  Her  countenance,  which  had  heretofore 
been  dull  and  leaden,  now  lightened  up.  A  spark  had 
been  kindled,  and  the  heat  gradually  communicated 
itself  to  her  other  faculties.  Before  long  it  was  noticed 
that  in  her  other  lessons  she  was  making  progress. 
She  became  gradually  a  respectable  scholar  in  all  her 
studies.  More  even  than  this.  The  mental  impulse 
thus  awakened  communicated  itself  to  her  moral 
nature.  Her  feelings  were  touched,  her  heart  was 
aroused,  her  conscience  was  softened,  she  became 
nn  earnest,  hopeful,  devoted  Christian,  and  she  is 
now  practicing  her  profession  as  a  public  teacher 
with  marked  and  signal  success. 

Children  are  always  fond  of  doing  anything  to 
help  their  teacher.  If  you  want  help  of  any  kind,  do 
not  call  upon  your  brightest  and  most  forward  chil- 


THE    TEACHER,  225 

dren,  but  make  it  a  means  of  calling  into  notice  some 
obscure  and  timid  member  of  your  class.  The  mo- 
ment a  child  of  this  sort  begins  to  feel  that  he  is  of 
some  importance,  and  his  ambition  is  roused,  you 
have  a  hold  upon  him. 

I  have  dwelt  a  little  upon  this  point,  of  giving  en- 
couragement to  the  backward,  because  from  a  large 
experience  in  the  matter  I  am  fully  persuaded  that 
three-fourths  of  the  indifierence  to  lessons,  whether 
in  the  Sunday-school  or  in  other  schools,  may  be 
traced  to  a  feeling  of  discouragement  or  sense  of 
mental  inferiority.  There  is  no  stimulus  to  mental 
exertion  so  healthful,  so  uniform  in  its  action,  so  cer- 
tain of  success,  as  a  spirit  of  hopefulness  growing 
out  of  actual  success.  Use  your  ingenuity  in  finding 
something  to  be  done,  some  question  to  be  answered 
which  is  within  the  reach  of  the  dullest  and  most 
perverse  child  in  your  class,  and  when  he  succeeds 
fail  not  to  reward  his  success  with  judicious  notice 
and  commendation.  You  will  soon  find  him  taking 
an  interest  and  waking  up. 

But  there  are  very  many  things  to  be  done  by  the 
teacher  who  has  a  class  that  will  not  study  their 
lessons.  The  first  thing,  however,  for  every  teacher 
to  do  who  is  so  situated,  is  to  make  up  his  mind  that 
the  evil  /««)/ be  corrected  and  that  \t  shall  be  cor- 
rected. Remember  for  yourself  the  case  of  the  Car- 
thaginians just  referred  to.  You  ca7i  do  the  thing 
if  you  only  think  so.  Or,  forgetting  the  words  of 
Virgil,  remember  those  of  the  divine  Teacher:  "All 

P 


226  THE    TEACHER. 

things  are  possible  to  him  that  believeth."  Settle  in 
your  mind,  therefore,  that  you  can  and  will  succeed 
in  getting  your  scholars  to  prepare  their  lessons, 
and  success  is  already  assured ;  nay,  is  already  half 
achieved. 

1 8.  Acquaintance  with  the  General  Contents 
of  the  Scriptures. 

On  one  point  Sunday-school  teachers  need  to  use 
their  utmost  ingenuity  and  skill,  and  that  is,  to  make 
their  scholars  familiar  with  the  contents  of  the  Bible. 
This  is  no  easy  achievement.  The  Bible  contains 
so  much  that  few  know  it  thoroughly.  We  may  be 
diligent  students  of  the  Word  all  our  lives  and  yet 
be  constantly  finding  in  it  something  new.  But 
there  is  a  kind  of  knovv^ledge  of  it  which  every  one 
may  attain.  Every  one  may  and  should  know  the 
general  scope  of  the  Scriptures.  He  should  have 
their  outlines  so  fixed  and  clear  in  his  mind  that  he 
can  know  at  once  where  to  turn  for  any  particular 
subject,  event  or  book. 

It  is  to  be  feared  that  this  point  is  overlooked  in 
many  of  our  Sunday-schools.  Most  of  the  question- 
books  in  use  enter  so  minutely  into  the  examination 
of  particular  passages  that  the  scholars  lose  sight  of 
the  general  scope  of  Scripture.  A  large  number  of 
Sunday-school  scholars  do  not  remain  in  school 
longer  than  three  or  four  years.  Four  years  in  the 
Sunday-school  is  perhaps  the  average  length  of  a 
generation.     Yet  I  have  known  a  school  spend  two 


THE    TEACHER.  227 

years  in  the  study  of  one  single  book  of  the  Bible. 
If  they  undertook  to  master  the  subject  in  the  thorough 
and  exhaustive  manner  prescribed  in  the  question- 
books,  they  could  not  do  it  in  less  time,  allowing 
for  the  weeks  lost  by  vacations  and  other  interrup- 
tions. 

I  do  not  wish  to  discourage  this  kind  of  careful 
and  exhaustive  study  of  particular  parts  of  Scripture. 
It  is  in  itself  very  profitable.  But  it  should  be  alter- 
nated with  another  and  quite  different  mode  of  study. 
Every  child  during  the  period  of  its  Sunday-school 
life  should  go  once  at  least  through  the  whole  Bible. 
We  want  a  question-book  or  lesson-book  of  some 
kind,  so  general  in  its  outlines  that  a  class  or  a 
school  using  it  will  go  through  the  Bible  in  a  single 
season.  Possibly  there  may  be  some  bool^  or  books 
of  this  kind  with  which  I  am  not  acquainted.  If 
so,  and  my  attention  w^ere  called  to  them,  I  would 
gladly  help  to  make  them  known.  I  know  some 
single  volumes  which  thus  go  over  the  whole  giTDund. 
But  they  are  not  sufficiently  general.  They  require 
too  much. 

The  Child's  Scripture  Question-Book  is  an  admir- 
able compend  of  Scripture  truth,  and  comes  nearer  to 
the  idea  I  have  in  view  than  any  other  book  I  can 
think  of.  But  it  is  rather  a  compend  of  Bible 
doctrijie  than  a  compend  of  the  Bible.  We  want 
something  which  shall  make  our  children  familiar 
with  the  Bible  itself,  so  that  if  you  speak  to  them  of 
Samson,  or  Daniel  in  the  lion's  den,  or  tlie  calling 


228  THE    TEACHER. 

of  Samuel,  or  the  children  that  mocked  Elisha,  say- 
ing, "  Go  up,  thou  bald  head,"  or  the  miraculous 
passage  of  the  Red  Sea,  or  the  building  of  the  Ark, 
or  any  of  the  various  scenes  in  the  life  of  our  Saviour, 
if  you  refer  them  to  any  particular  book  in  the 
Bible,  to  Exodus,  or  Ezra,  or  Nahum,  or  Proverbs, 
or  Hebrews,  they  shall  know  at  once  where  to 
find  it. 

A  part  of  the  course  of  study  in  every  Sunday- 
school  should  be  to  have  the  children  learn  the  order 
of  the  books  in  the  Bible.  Qiiestions  or  exercises 
of  some  kind,  having  this  object  in  view,  should 
form  a  part  of  the  small  synoptical  volume  that  I  am 
speaking  of.  It  is  lamentable  to  see  the  manner 
in  which  some  children,  and  some  who  are  not 
children,  go  to  work  to  find  a  text  or  a  topic  which 
has  been  referred  to.  They  seem  to  know  that  the 
book  of  Psalms  is  somewhere  in  the  middle  of  the 
Bible,  that  Genesis  is  at  the  beginning  and  Revela- 
tion at  the  end,  but  beyond  that  they  are  altogether 
at  sea. 

It  used  to  be  the  fashion,  as  soon  as  children  could 
read,  to  set  them  to  reading  the  Bible  through  in 
course,  and  it  was  a  matter  of  ambition  to  see  how 
early  in  life  this  feat  could  be  accomplished.  It  was 
even  sometimes  entered  in  the  family  record  that 
Edward  or  James  or  Susan  had  read  the  Bible 
through  when  he  or  she  was  only  eight  years  old,  or 
seven,  or  possibly  six.  It  became,  however,  in 
course  of  time,  the  fashion  to  sneer  at  these  perform- 


THE    TEACHER.  229 

ances,  and  to  ask  how  much  of  knowledge  or  bene- 
fit such  youngsters  gained  by  wading  through  the 
long  hsts  of  hard  names  in  the  book  of  Numbers  or 
the  mysterious  utterances  of  the  Hebrew  prophets. 
The  sneer  showed  only  how  ignorant  were  those 
who  uttered  it  as  to  a  true  philosophy  of  mental  de- 
velopment, and  it  has  been  a  great  misfortune  that 
parents  and  teachers  had  the  weakness  to  listen  to  it. 
There  is  no  better  way  for  even  a  young  child  to  get 
a  knowledge  of  the  general  contents  and  scope  of 
Holy  Scripture  than  to  read  the  Bible  straight 
through  in  course.  While  much  of  what  he  reads 
will  be  unintelligible  to  him,  much  also — more,  in- 
deed, than  many  persons  imagine — will  make  a  last- 
ing impression,  and  the  acquaintance  it  will  give 
him  with  the  general  outline  of  the  Bible  will  be  the 
very  best  preparation  for  the  special  study  of  partic- 
ular parts  of  the  Bible. 

I  believe  the  scriptural  knowledge  of  this  gen- 
eration would  be  greatly  increased  if  this  good 
old  custom  could  be  revived.  The  benefit  would 
be  still  greater  if,  at  stated  intervals  through  life, 
say  at  the  end  of  every  five  years,  each  individual 
should  set  apart  a  year  for  repeating  the  process ; 
that  is,  should  read  the  Bible  through  in  course  at 
the  age  of  ten,  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  at  the  age  o^ 
twenty,  and  so  on  to  the  end  of  life.  How  at  each 
new  general  perusal  would  light  flash  upon  the 
pages  from  the  special  studies  and  experiences 
of  the  intervening  years !  And  how  upon  each 
20 


230  THE   TEACHER. 

special  study  would  help  come  from  his  increasing 
familiarity  with  the  Scriptures  as  a  whole ! 

19.    Irregular  Attendance  of  Teachers. 

In  the  actual  work  of  the  Sunday-school  few 
things  are  more  disheartening  than  the  irregular 
attendance  of  teachers.  I  cannot  say  from  certain 
knowledge  how  extensive  the  evil  is.  But  in  every 
school  with  which  I  have  ever  been  connected  it  has 
been  one  of  the  sources  of  greatest  annoyance,  dis- 
couragement, and  even  of  dismay,  with  which  the 
superintendent  has  had  to  contend. 

It  is  rare  to  go  into  any  large  Sunday-school  and 
not  to  find  one  or  more  teachers  absent.  The  same 
men  and  women  who  would  not  absent  themselves 
from  a  business  engagement  on  a  weekday  for  any 
cause  short  of  sickness,  or  some  imperative  necessity, 
will  stay  away  from  their  class  on  the  Lord's  day  for 
causes  too  frivolous  to  name.  The  consequences 
are  disastrous  in  the  extreme.  A  class  thus  deserted 
by  its  teacher  becomes  disorderly  and  noisy,  and  is  a 
source  of  annoyance  to  all  the  rest  of  the  school. 
The  children,  feeling  that  their  teacher  cares  little 
for  them,  lose  interest  in  their  lessons  and  in  the 
school,  and  some  imitate  the  example  set  them  by 
staying  away  likewise.  The  superintendent,  to  pre- 
vent the  growing  disorder  which  two  or  three  unoc- 
cupied classes  produce  in  the  school,  sets  some 
chance  visitor,  or  some  of  the  older  scholars  from 
other  classes,  to  instruct  the  neglected  ones.     It  is  a 


THE    TEACHER.  23 1 

great  kindness  in  the  persons  thus  called  upon  to 
undertake  the  work.  But  it  is  little  usually  they  can 
do.  They  are  unacquainted  with  the  children  and 
with  the  lesson,  and  so  the  time  is  pretty  much  lost 
to  the  class. 

I  fear  there  is  among  teachers  generally  an  entirely 
too  low  standard  of  duty  in  this  matter.  The  secret, 
unacknowledged  reasoning  in  the  case  seems  to  be 
this :  My  undertaking  to  teach  the  class  is  altogether 
voluntary.  My  going  to  the  school  at  all  is  a  favor 
which  I  may  give  or  withhold.  My  engagement  to 
be  there  is  quite  different  from  that  which  binds  a 
clerk  to  be  at  the  office  of  his  employer  during  the 
appointed  hours  of  business.  I  may  therefore  exer- 
cise my  own  choice  whether  to  go  or  to  stay  away. 

Perhaps  no  teacher  ever  puts  the  case  in  this  bold 
way.  But  it  is  to  be  feared,  if  the  real  truth  were 
known,  much  of  the  absenteeism  among  Sunday- 
school  teachers  has  no  better  foundation.  The  en- 
gagement to  teach  and  to  be  present  has  no  legal 
sanction.  The  violation  of  it  brings  no  pecuniary 
penalties.     And  so  it  is  treated  lightly. 

I  say  these  words  with  sorrow.  They  imply  a 
grievous  dereliction  of  duty  on  the  part  of  those  who 
act  thus.  A  teacher  who  absents  himself  from  his 
class  for  any  cause  which  would  not  make  him  break 
a  business  engagement,  says  in  effect  that  the  cause 
of  Christ  is  less  dear  to  him  than  the  cause  of  his 
fellow-man  ;  that  displeasing  Christ  is  of  less  import- 
ance to  him  than  displeasing  a  fellow-man  ;  that  the 


232  THE    TEACHER. 

loss  of  Christ's  favor  is  of  less  value  than  the  loss  of 
money. 

It  should  be  to  the  teacher  just  as  sacredly  a  mat- 
ter of  conscience  to  be  in  his  place  at  the  appointed 
time  as  for  the  minister  to  be  in  his  pulpit,  for  the 
physician  to  be  at  the  bedside  of  his  patient,  for  the 
law^yer  to  be  in  the  court  when  his  client's  cause  is 
called,  for  the  clerk  to  be  in  bank  when  bank-hour 
comes,  or  the  workman  in  any  worldly  business  to 
fulfil  his  engagement  to  his  employer.  The  teacher 
who  undertakes  the  charge  of  a  class  with  any  lower 
sense  of  obligation  on  this  subject  has  no  business 
there.  He  does  a  grievous  wrong  to  the  cause  of 
his  Lord  and  Master. 

A  teacher  is  sometimes  compelled,  by  sickness  or 
by  other  imperative  and  satisfactory  cause,  to  stay 
away  from  his  class.  But  in  such  a  case  he  should 
take  the  same  precaution  that  he  does  in  any  other 
business  to  prevent  the  evil  consequences  of  his  ab- 
sence. The  minister  who  is  detained  from  his 
pulpit  provides  a  substitute.  The  physician  who  is 
unable  to  pay  the  expected  visit  to  a  patient  sends 
another  physician  to  take  his  place.  So  with 
other  engagements  where  temporal  interests  of  any 
kind  are  at  stake  and  a  fellow-man  is  the  contracting 
party  on  the  other  side.  Shall  we  be  less  scrupulous 
where  the  interests  are  those  of  the  soul,  and  where 
the  party  in  whose  service  we  are  engaged  and  with 
whom  we  have  entered  into  covenant  is  the  Lord 
Jesus  himself.^* 


THE    TEACHER.  233 

If  the  teacher  finds  that  it  will  be  impossible  for 
him  to  meet  his  class,  two  things  are  binding  on 
him.  First,  he  should  use  his  very  best  endeavor  to 
procure  a  substitute,  and  the  measure  of  his  duty 
should  not  be  less  than  that  of  the  minister  or  the 
physician  in  a  like  case.  If  all  Sunday-school  teach- 
ers had  a  right  sense  of  duty  in  this  matter,  it  would 
be  as  much  a  cause  of  surprise  and  wonderment  to 
see  a  school  assembled  and  a  teacher's  chair  vacant 
as  for  a  congregation  to  be  assembled  and  see  the 
pulpit  vacant.  Secondly,  when  the  teacher  finds 
that  he  cannot  be  present,  he  should  make  the  matter 
known  to  the  superintendent,  and  at  the  earliest 
moment  possible  after  the  necessity  becomes  known 
to  himself.  Nor  is  this  duty  discharged  by  sending 
word  to  the  superintendent  by  some  scholar  on  his 
way  to  school.  If  the  superintendent  knows  it  a  day 
or  two  beforehand,  particularly  in  cases  where  the 
teacher  can  himself  procure  no  suitable  substitute, 
measures  may  be  taken  to  prevent  the  injury  which 
the  absence  is  likely  to  produce  in  the  school.  But 
a  scholar  often  comes  up  to  the  superintendent's 
desk  after  the  school  is  opened,  and  says,  "Mr. 
Smith  requested  me  to  tell  you  that  he  went  to  New 
York  Wednesday  last ;  will  you  please  to  get  some 
one  to  take  his  class  to-day  !"  Of  what  possible  use 
to  the  superintendent  is  such  a  message? 

20.    Visiting  Scholars, 

The  Sunday  teacher  is,  in  some  respects,  at  a  dis- 
20* 


234  ^^^    TEACHER. 

advantage,  when  compared  with  the  ordinary  daily- 
teacher.  The  teacher  of  the  weekday-school  has 
his  scholars  five  days  in  the  week,  five  hours  a  day, 
sometimes  more.  The  studies  follow  each  other  in 
regular  course  ;  study  and  attendance  are  compul- 
sory, failure  in  either  respect  being  visited  by  appro- 
priate penalties.  The  school-room  is  furnished  with 
maps,  globes,  desks,  blackboards,  scientific  appa- 
ratus, and  all  the  other  means  and  appliances  for 
teaching  and  study.  The  Sunday  teacher  on  the 
other  hand  has  the  child  but  one  day  in  the  week, 
and  on  that  day  but  one  hour,  or  at  the  utmost  one 
hour  and  a  half.  Indeed,  if  we  take  out  the  time 
spent  in  opening  and  closing  school,  in  collecting 
and  distributing  books  and  papers,  and  in  other  mis- 
cellaneous business,  the  teacher  rarely  has  left  for 
uninterrupted  instruction  more  than  three-quarters 
of  an  hour.  From  a  pretty  large  acquaintance  with 
the  subject,  I  believe  this  is  fully  up  to  the  average 
of  time  actually  given  to  direct  instruction  in  the 
Sunday-school.  That  is,  for  teaching  religious  truth 
and  knowledge  of  Holy  Scriptures,  which  we  pro- 
fess to  believe  to  be  the  most  important  of  all  con- 
cerns, we  give  three-quarters  of  one  hour  out  of  the 
one  hundred  and  sixty-eight  hours  which  make  up 
the  week.  Nor  does  this  state  the  case  fully.  At- 
tendance, even  for  that  brief  period,  and  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  lesson,  are  for  the  most  part  considered 
entirely  optional,  and  In  point  of  fact  are  given  with 
much  greater  irregularity  than  the  attendance  upon 


THE   TEACHER.  235 

the   weekday    school    and    the    study   of    the   daily 
lessons. 

Such  being  the  state  of  the  case,  the  Sunday 
teacher  who  is  anxious  to  accomplish  something 
substantial  in  the  way  of  religious  instruction  natur- 
ally avails  himself  of  all  the  accessory  means  by 
which  his  limited  time  on  Sunday  may  be  made  as 
efficient  as  possible.  Among  these  means  none  is 
more  common  or  more  eftectual  than  the  occasional 
visiting  of  his  scholars  at  their  homes.  I  do  not 
mean  by  this  that  he  should  give  instruction  to  the 
scholars  at  their  homes,  but  by  visiting  them  there 
he  becomes  better  acquainted  with  their  condition 
and  their  mental  wants  and  difficulties.  He  finds 
out  what  hindrances  they  have  to  contend  with,  and 
he  is  enabled  to  invoke  the  influence  of  parents  in 
securing  regularity  of  attendance  and  the  proper 
study  of  the  lesson.  The  visit  begets  a  feeling  of 
kindness  on  the  part  of  the  child  and  of  his  friends, 
who  naturally  feel  gratified  by  such  a  mark  of  atten- 
tion and  interest,  particularly  if  the  family  are  in  the 
humble  walks  of  life.  The  common  experience  of 
the  Sunday-school  teacher  is  that  the  Sunday  lesson 
is  very  imperfectly  prepared.  Sometimes  this  lesson 
is  not  prepared  at  all,  and  very  rarely  is  it  prepared 
with  that  care  and  thoroughness  which  mark  the 
lessons  of  the  week.  The  same  child  that  recites  its 
lessons  in  grammar,  arithmetic,  geography  and  his- 
tory without  hesitating  and  without  missing  a  word, 
will  come  to  the  recitation  of  its  Bible  lesson  with 


236  THE    TEACHER. 

only  the  most  dim  and  vague  recollection  of  its  con- 
tents. The  Sunday  lesson  usually  consists  of  a  cer- 
tain number  of  verses  to  be  committed  to  memory, 
with  questions  intended  to  illustrate  and  draw  out 
their  meaning  and  application.  It  has  become  very 
common  for  children  to  omit  entirely  committing 
these  verses  to  memory.  In  this  matter  the  parents 
are  the  ones  to  correct  the  evil,  and  in  most  in- 
stances w^ould  do  so  if  the  case  were  properly  stated 
to  them  by  the  teacher  on  the  occasion  of  his  visit. 
It  is  not  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  amount  of  in- 
struction given  in  the  Sunday-school  would  be 
doubled  if  all  the  scholars  would  habitually  come 
to  the  class  with  the  Bible  verses  of  the  lesson 
thoroughly  committed  to  memory.  This  is  one  way, 
then,  in  which  the  time  of  the  teacher  with  his  class 
may  be  made  more  efficient,  and  there  is  no  means 
by  which  this  can  be  so  effectually  brought  about  as 
by  a  visit  from  the  teacher  to  the  child,  at  his  own 
home. 

I  have  spoken  thus  far  merely  of  religious  instruc- 
tion. The  argument  drawn  from  the  personal  influ- 
ence acquired  by  the  teacher  in  these  visits  is  still 
stronger,  but  I  have  not  time  to  dwell  upon  it.  Suf- 
fice it  to  say  that  the  teacher  thereby  gains  numer- 
ous and  most  favorable  opportunities  for  bringing 
home  the  subject  of  personal ,  religion  to  the  child 
and  sometimes  to  the  other  members  of  the  house- 
hold. 

No   definite   rule   can  be  given  in  regard  to  the 


THE    TEACHER.  237 

frequency  of  these  visits.  It  depends  upon  the  cir- 
cumstances of  each  particular  class  and  scholar. 
Some  scholars  need  visiting  as  often  as  once  a 
month.  In  other  cases  a  visit  once  or  twice  a  year 
is  sufficient.  There  is  little  danger,  however,  of 
over-doing  the  matter. 

In  regard  to  visiting  scholars,  the  following  points 
may  be  considered  as  settled:  i.  Every  scholar 
should  be  visited  in  case  of  his  absence  from  the 
class,  and  this  visit  should  be  made  as  soon  after  the 
absence  as  possible.  2.  Every  scholar  should  be 
visited  occasionally.  3.  Teachers  should  make  a 
business  of  visiting  all  their  scholars  immediately 
after  the  summer  vacation. 

21.  Keeping  up  with  the  Times. 

The  Sunday-school  man  is  essentially  a  man  of 
progress.  We  feel  at  once  an  incongruity  when  we 
think  of  him  in  any  other  light.  The  institution 
itself  was  born  of  progress,  and  belongs  to  the  new 
order  of  things.  It  is  one  of  the  subjects  on  which 
the  church,  dissatisfied  with  past  shortcomings,  lias 
made  a  bold  and  free  step  in  advance.  Whoever  is 
engaged  in  this  advanced  enterprise  w^ould  seem,  by 
the  very  nature  of  his  occupation,  to  be  committed  to 
the  principles  and  the  spirit  of  progress.  Yet  there 
are  not  wanting  among  our  Sunday-school  people 
iitdications  of  a  spirit,  if  not  opposed  to  improve- 
ment, yet  timid,  hesitating,  indifferent,  retrograde. 
Of  course,  I  have   nothing  to  say  against   genuine 


238  THE   TEACHER, 

conservatism,  meaning  by  that  term  the  disposition 
to  hold  on  to  whatever  is  good.  But  there  is  a  con- 
servatism w^hich  consists  in  holding  on  to  whatever 
has  been  once  established,  whether  bad  or  good.  If  it 
is  only  one  of  the  things  that  used  to  be  in  the  olden 
time,  that  fact  alone  hallows  it.  Against  such  con- 
servatism the  earnest  Sunday-school  man  feels  bound 
to  protest  and  contend.  He  is  what  we  call  a  live 
man,  one  thoroughly  wide  awake.  He  does  not  re- 
ject a  thing  without  examination  because  it  is  new, 
nor  cleave  to  a  thing  against  his  judgment  because 
it  is  old.  While  projects  and  schemes  never  before 
heard  of  are  admitted  to  a  hearing,  and  if  they  make 
a  reasonable  show  are  admitted  to  trial  also,  methods 
and  practices  that  have  been  in  use  for  generations 
are  not  thereby  exempt  from  respectful  inquiry,  and 
if  found  on  sober  examination  to  be  wrong,  are  not 
exempt  from  reform. 

The  Sunday-school  man,  however,  is  not  a  de- 
structive. On  the  contrary,  he  is  as  truly  a  genuine 
conservative  as  he  is  a  progressive.  He  aims  on 
the  one  hand  to  keep  whatever  is  good  and  desirable 
in  that  which  has  come  down  to  us  from  the  past, 
and  on  the  other  hand  to  seize  with  eager  welcome 
whatever  real  improvement  the  present  order  of 
things  brings  him. 

The  Sunday-school  man,  therefore,  if  he  would  be 
true  to  the  character  which  his  position  would  see«i 
to  impose,  must  be  a  man  of  the  progressive  order, 
thoroughly  wide  awake  to  every  real   improvement 


THE    TEACHER.  239 

in  his  work.     What  are  some  of  the  ways  by  w^hich 
he  can  aid  himself  in  keeping  up  to  the  times? 

I.  He  should  take  a  Teachers"  Paper.  The 
teacher  who  takes  no  teachers'  paper  can  hardly  ex- 
pect to  keep  pace  with  the  current  of  opinion  and 
improvement.  This  Sunday-school  work  has  be- 
come an  important  department  of  human  effort.  The 
workers  in  it  are  numbered  by  hundreds  of  thousands 
Many  of  them  are  not  mere  men  of  routine,  but  are 
men  of  thought,  originality,  invention,  enterprise 
Experiments  of  high  moment  are  going  on  continu- 
ally in  every  department  of  the  work.  Reports  and 
discussions  of  these  fill  the  columns  of  papers  de- 
voted to  this  particular  subject.  Almost  every  con- 
ceivable question  that  can  be  raised,  either  in  regard 
to  the  work  to  be  done  or  the  manner  of  doing  it,  is 
there  discussed.  Can  a  teacher  who  would  claim  to 
be  a  live  man  afford  to  be  without  such  a  paper? 

To  state  the  question  would  seem  to  be  to  answer 
it.  The  proposition  which  it  involves  seems  to  ad- 
dress itself  at  once  to  the  intuitive  perceptions  of  men. 
Yet  as  a  question  of  fact  the  duty  is  ignored  by  almost 
the  entire  body  of  Christian  men  and  women  who 
are  engaged  in  the  business  of  Sunday-school  teach- 
ing. I  do  not  believe  tliat  more  than  one  teacher  out 
of  two  hundred  takes  a  teachers'  paper.  Should  this 
be  so?  Is  there  not  some  duty  in  this  matter?  Does 
not  a  weekly  paper,  giving  in  compact  form  the 
latest  and  ripest  thoughts  of  the  wisest  and  most  ex- 
perienced workers  in  the  cause,  furnish  a  means  of 


240  THE    TEACHER. 

self-improvement  which  a  conscientious  teacher  can- 
not well  forego  ?  Do  not  the  recorded  experiences, 
the  suggestive  anecdotes,  the  earnest  appeals,  the 
useful  hints  as  to  improved  methods  for  managing 
libraries  and  class-rolls  and  for  conducting  the  vari- 
ous machinery  of  a  school, — do  not  these  suggestive 
and  varied  practical  details  with  which  its  columns 
abound  from  week  to  week  furnish  the  teacher  regu- 
larly and  surely  with  matter  w^hich  he  urgently  needs 
and  which  he  cannot  get  elsewhere? 

Taking  a  religious  paper  of  some  kind  does  not 
meet  the  case.  Every  man  expects  of  course  to  take 
the  weekly  religious  paper  of  his  own  denomination. 
But  this  does  not  fill  his  want  as  a  teacher  any  more 
than  occupying  his  pew  in  church  would  render  it 
unnecessary  for  him  to  be  in  his  place  in  school. 
For  his  special  work  as  a  teacher  he  needs  a  paper 
devoted  to  this  specialty  just  as  much  as  the  intelli- 
gent farmer  or  mechanic,  the  florist,  the  gardener, 
the  builder  does,  each  in  his  own  special  calling. 
Our  good  brother  Pardee  used  to  tell  us  instances  of 
the  mistakes  of  Sunday-school  men  on  this  subject 
which  would  be  ludicrous  were  it  not  for  the  serious- 
ness of  the  consequences  involved.  After  visiting  a 
village  and  spending  three  or  four  days  with  the 
teachers,  holding  what  is  called  an  "  Institute,"  and 
explaining  to  them  in  his  pleasant,  practical  way  just 
how  this,  that,  or  the  other  thing  is  done,  the  teachers 
would  gather  round  him  full  of  enthusiasm,  wonder- 
ing that  they  had  never  heard  of  these  things  before, 


THE    TEACHER.  241 

and  zealous  to  hear  more.  "  Do  tell  ns,  brother, 
where  we  can  find  out  more  about  these  things?" 
"I  have  not  told  you  a  thing  that  you  will  not  find 
explained  and  discussed  all  the  year  round  in  The 
Sujiday-School  Times.  You  take  that  paper,  of 
course?"     "  Why,  no.     I  take,  you  know,  my  own 

church    paper,    the  ,  and    one    religious    paper 

seems  to  be  enough." 

2.  He  should  have  a  Teachers'  Library.  Be- 
sides reading  a  teachers'  paper,  there  are  many  books 
devoted  to  the  explanation  and  discussion  of  the  Sun- 
day-school work  with  which  the  Sunday-school 
teacher  should  be  familiar.  As  a  lawyer  has  a  law 
library  and  a  doctor  a  medical  library,  so  a  teacher 
should  have  a  teachers'  library.  This  library  should 
include  not  merely  books  suited  to  give  him  progress 
in  Christian  knowledge  and  culture,  such  as  all  Chris- 
tians need,  not  merely  the  commentaries  and  other 
books  needed  to  aid  him  in  preparing  the  lesson,  but 
books  on  teaching,  in  vvjiich  all  that  pertains  to  the 
art  and  mystery  of  the  profession  is  discussed,  and 
especially  books  written  specifically  about  Sunday- 
schools,  explaining  their  rise,  progress,  development, 
object  and  methods.  We  are  beginning  to  be  quite 
rich  in  our  literature  on  this  subject.  The  teacher 
who  is  up  to  the  times  will  spend  some  naoney  in 
stocking  his  shelves  with  the  books  pertaining  to  his 
business,  and  some  time  in  stocking  his  mind  with 
their  contents. 

3.  He  sho7iId  atte7id  Coiiventiojzs.     There  is  still 
21  Q 


242  THE    TEACHER. 

another  means  of  improverxient  which  the  really  wide- 
awake man  will  not  willingly  miss.  By  nothing  are 
our  faculties  so  soon  quickened  as  by  actual  contact 
with  wide-awake  people.  It  is  a  great  mistake  for  a 
Sunday-school  man  to  shut  himself  up  in  his  shell. 
Let  him  gladly  embrace  every  fitting  opportunity  for 
meeting  his  fellow-laborers  in  Teachers'  Institutes 
and  Conventions.  No  doubt  there  is  usually  some 
chaft'  In  these  meetings,  but  there  is  also  generally 
good,  pure  wheat.  I  never  attended  a  Sunday-school 
Convention  yet  that  I  did  not  bring  away  from  It 
some  valuable  thought.  Besides,  In  many  parts  of 
the  countr}',  these  meetings,  under  the  name  of  Insti- 
tutes, have  become  real  practical,  working  affairs. 
I  urge  very  strongly  upon  all  teachers  the  duty  and 
policy  of  mingling  more  than  they  generally  do  with 
other  teachers  for  the  purpose  of  comparing  notes 
and  of  learning  what  others  are  doing. 

Is  teaching  the  only  business  in  which  no  advan- 
tage is  to  be  taken  of  the  experience  of  others.^  Are 
teachers  the  only  workmen  who  are  above  or  below 
being  profited  by  suggestion,  advice  and  example? 
Are  the  teachers  of  our  Sunday-schools  generally  so 
thoroughly  skillful  and  so  completely  furnished  for 
their  work  that  they  need  no  help  from  any  quarter  .f* 
Does  no  intelligence  reach  us  from  any  quarter,  of 
schools  verging  toward  dissolution  because  of  the 
irregularities  and  disorders  which  the  teachers  know 
not  how  either  to  quell  or  prevent? — of  classes  which 
are  a  nuisance  to  all  the  rest  of  the  school  to  which 


THE    TEACHER.  243 

they  belong  because  of  the  rude  behavior,  the  loud 
talking  and  the  irregular  attendance  of  the  mem- 
bers?— of  scholars  wlio  never  learn  their  Sunday  les- 
son, though  perfect  in  the  lessons  of  the  weekdav- 
school,  and  who  do  not  attend  the  Sunday-school 
more  than  one-half  or  one-third  the  time,  though 
never  absent  from  school  during-  the  week  ? 


CHAPTER    V 


TEACHERS  IN  COUNCIL. 

N  the  previous  chapter  the  discussion  has 
been  limited  for  the  most  part  to  those 
topics  in  which  each  teacher  necessarily 
acts  by  and  for  himself.  But  many  things  in  this 
great  Sunday-school  work  require  co-operative  ac- 
tion. Teachers  must  confer  together  in  various 
ways  and  in  greater  or  smaller  numbers  if  they 
would  reap  the  full  fruit  of  their  labors.  I  propose, 
therefore,  in  the  present  chapter  to  consider  some  of 
those  various  meetings  held  by  Sunday-school  men 
under  the  names  of  Conventions,  Institutes,  Teach- 
ers' Meetings  and  Teachers'  Normal  Classes. 

The  object,  in  all  such  gatherings,  is  improve- 
ment in  the  means  of  carrying  on  the  work,  and 
especially  improvement  in  the  qualifications  of 
teachers. 


I.   Such   Gatheri72gs  Needed. 

That   there    is   need  of  some   agency  for  the  ac- 
complishment  of   these   ends  is   evident.      Of   the 
four   hundred  thousand  teachers  who    are   guiding 
244 


TEACHERS   IN   COUNCIL.  245 

and  sustaining  this  great  work  of  Sunday-school  in- 
struction, probably  less  than  one-tenth  have  ever  had 
any  regular  professional  training  for  the  business 
of  teaching.  Let  us  think  for  a  moment  what  this 
fact  implies.  There  are,  it  may  be,  at  this  very 
time,  in  the  United  States,  four  hundred  thousand 
steam  engines  at  work,  propelling  boats  or  drawing 
trains  of  cars  laden  with  human  beings.  Would  it 
not  be  accounted  an  act  of  suicidal  madness  and  in- 
fatuation if  nine  out  of  ten  of  the  engineers  by 
whom  these  precious  burdens  are  hurried  along 
were  allowed  to  be  persons  not  professionally  trained 
to  the  business  of  an  engineer.'' — if  they  were  taken, 
in  fact,  haphazard  from  the  passengers  on  the  spur 
of  the  occasion.'*  Is  the  business  of  a  teacher  any 
less  responsible  than  that  of  an  engineer.'*  Is  there 
any  less  risk  in  guiding  an  immortal  soul  along  the 
path  of  eternal  life  than  in  guiding  a  steam  engine 
along  its  appointed  track?  Shall  the  children  of 
this  world  always  be  wiser  than  the  children  of 
light.''  Shall  worldly  men  be  more  careful  of  risks, 
where  only  a  few  dollars  are  at  stake,  than  the 
people  of  God,  where  the  stake  is  eternal  life.'* 

Why  should  not  our  theological  seminaries  make 
some  provision  on  the  subject?  A  young  man  goes 
to  a  theological  seminary  for  the  purpose  of  being 
fitted  and  trained  for  the  pastoral  office.  In  the 
providence  of  God  and  the  practical  working  of 
Christian  institutions  at  this  time,  a  large  part  of  the 
pastor's  work — that  part  of  his  work,  too,  which  is 

21  '* 


246  TEACHERS  IN  COUNCIL. 

most  productive  of  results — lies  among  the  young  of 
his  flock.  There  is  not  probably  a  really  successful 
worker  in  the  pastoral  office,  in  any  Protestant 
church  in  the  United  States,  who  does  not  feel  that 
the  Sunday-school  stands  second  only  to  the  pulpit 
among  his  agencies  for  carrying  forward  his  Master's 
work.  Do  our  theological  students  receive  in  the 
seminary  any  adequate  instruction  and  training  for 
this  part  of  their  duty.?  They  are  told  there  how  to 
expound  the  word  to  the  people,  how  to  preach, 
how  to  manage  the  adult  portions  of  their  congrega- 
tions ;  are  they  told  how  to  manage  their  Sunday- 
schools  ?  Are  they  told  how  to  train  up  a  corps  of 
faithful  and  efficient  teachers? 

The  pastors  of  several  congregations,  whether 
of  the  same  denomination  or  of  different  denomina- 
tions, might,  by  a  little  conference,  get  up  among 
themselves,  with  the  aid  perhaps  of  one  or  more 
special  lecturers  from  abroad,  a  systematic  course  of 
instruction  for  a  local  Normal  Institute.  However 
feebly  or  imperfectly  carried  out,  such  a  plan  could 
not  fail  of  doing  some  good.  The  pastors  would  of 
course  succeed  better  in  such  an  enterprise,  if  them- 
selves trained  to  it  in  the  seminary,  as  they  are 
trained  to  writing  sermons  and  to  preaching.  But 
without  such  instruction  they  can  accomplish  much. 
If  the  pastors  and  superintendents  of  any  one  town, 
village,  or  neighborhood  would  come  together  and 
have  a  free  conference  as  to  the  best  means  of  im- 
proving  the    qualifications   of  their    Sunday-school 


TEACHERS  IN  COUNCIL.  247 

teachers — nay,  if  only  the  pastor  and  superintendent 
and  two  or  three  of  the  most  thoughtful  members  of 
a  single  congregation  would  thus  confer,  and  fairly 
set  some  plan  in  motion,  no  matter  how  incomplete 
the  plan  might  be— good  would  come  of  it.  What 
we  are  suflering  from  is  patient  indifference  and 
quiescence  in  the  present  state  of  things. 

Let  me  speak  plainly.  Our  schools  are  taught  by 
those  >vho  know  not  how  to  teach.  Of  course  there 
are  many  brilliant  exceptions.  I  speak  only  of  the 
general  fact.  Yet  these  unskilled  teachers,  with  all 
their  imperfections  as  teachers,  are  among  the  no- 
blest Christians  in  the  land.  No  one  knows  so  well 
as  they  themselves  do  the  extent  of  their  deficiencies 
and  imperfections.  No  one  longs  as  they  do  for  the 
knowledge  and  the  skill  to  do  better.  Their  hearts 
ache  for  the  longing  they  have  to  serve  the  Master 
efficiently  in  this  glorious  cause.  There  is  no  fear 
that  they  will  not  respond  to  any  well-considered 
and  practical  plan  by  which  their  talents  may  be 
guided  and  their  laborious  services  made  more 
effectual.  What  the  leaders  in  Israel,  the  wise  men 
in  the  church,  the  ministers  and  superintendents,  the 
working  and  thinking  men  of  large  hearts  and  long 
heads,  owe  to  this  cause,  is  the  devising  and  matur- 
ing of  plans  for  tlic  improvement  of  our  Sunday- 
school  teachers.  Our  schools  will  never  accomplish 
what  they  should  do  until  our  teachers  know  better 
how  to  teach  and  what  to  teach.  Our  teachers  must 
themselves    be    taught.     Whoever   shall   devise   the 


hS  teachers  in  council. 

means  of  doing  this  effectually  will  help  forward 
the  great  cause  as  much  as  if  he  were  to  put  a  hun- 
dred missionaries  in  the  field. 

2.   State    Convejitions. 

Should  our  State  conventions  be  denominational 
or  should  they  be  union  meetings? 

It  seems  to  me  that  in  this  matter  there  is  no 
necessary  antagonism  between  denominational  inter- 
ests and  the  interests  which  are  common  to  all.  On 
the  contrary,  a  right  understanding  of  the  subject 
will  promote  both — will  make  both  union  move- 
ments and  ecclesiastical  movements  more  effective. 

In  the  first  place  let  me  say,  I  have  always  advo- 
cated and  urged  ecclesiastical  action  on  the  subject 
of  Sunday-schools.  How  any  church  that  has  any 
proper  comprehension  of  its  mission  as  an  agency 
for  the  propagation  of  Christianity,  or  of  the  place 
that  education  holds  among  the  means  for  spreading 
and  perpetuating  true  religion,  can  avoid  taking  ac- 
tion as  a  church  in  this  work  of  the  religious  teach- 
ing and  training  of  the  young  passes  comprehension. 
I  hold  that  every  church  (that  is,  every  separate 
congregation)  is  bound  to  engage  actively  and  ef- 
fectually, in  its  organized  capacity  as  a  church,  in 
this  Sunday-school  work.  A  church  that  neglects 
to  provide  for  the  religious  instruction  of  the  chil- 
dren is  as  truly  guilty  before  God  as  if  it  neglected 
to  provide  for  pulpit  ministrations.  The  session, 
consistory,  vestry,  or  whatever  body  is  charged  with 


TEACHERS  IN  COUNCIL.  249 

the  spiritual  oversight  of  the  congregation,  is  bound 
to  see  that  there  is  a  Sunday-school,  and  that  it  is 
rightly  and  efficiently  managed  and  taught.  In 
whose  hands  the  management  of  the  school  should 
be  is  a  question  of  time  and  circumstance.  But  the 
church  as  such  should  see  that  the  work  is  done, 
and  well  done,  and  should  throw  the  weight  of 
its  official  character  and  influence  into  the  work. 
Office-bearing  in  the  church,  in  other  words,  should 
be  seen  in  something  more  than  in  merely  its  nega- 
tive character,  its  power  of  excluding  measures  or 
men  of  an  improper  sort.  It  should  rather  and 
mainly  be  felt  as  a  positive  propelling  power  in 
every  good  word  and  work. 

In  like  manner  the  various  ecclesiastical  bodies  in 
which  the  interests  of  many  individual  churches  are 
represented,  the  Presbyteries,  Classes,  Conferences, 
Synods,  etc.,  have  other  than  mere  rectoral  or  gov- 
ernmental duties.  It  is  one  of  the  pleasant  signs  of 
the  times  that  at  many  of  these  convocations  the 
wants  of  the  Sunday-school  are  brought  prominently 
forward,  and  a  part  of  the  sessions  of  the  body  have 
almost  the  appearance  of  a  Sunday-school  festival, 
— children,  teachers,  parents,  whole  congregations, 
meeting  with  the  venerable  body  of  joastors  in  some 
special  service  appropriate  to  the  occasion.  One  of 
the  standing  committees  in  many  of  these  bodies 
now  is  the  committee  on  Sunday-schools,  and  many 
of  the  topics  discussed  are  precisely  the  same  as 
those    discussed    in    a     Sundav-school    convention, 


250  TEACHERS  IN  COUNCIL. 

such  as  the  qualifications  of  teachers,  methods  of 
teaching,  Sunday-school  music,  the  early  conver- 
sion of  children,  etc.  I  hope  to  see  the  time  when, 
in  every  ecclesiastical  council,  of  whatever  name  or 
magnitude,  a  part,  and  no  small  part,  of  its  regular 
business,  shall  consist  in  action  on  Sunday-school 
matters,  and  its  sessions  shall  be  looked  forward  to 
and  attended  upon  by  Sunday-school  teachers  and 
Sunday-school  children,  by  parents  and  by  whole 
congregations,  with  that  same  feeling  of  personal 
interest  with  which  a  whole  population  will  now 
turn  out  to  a  heart-warming,  fire-enkindling  Sunday- 
school  convention. 

But  there  are  some  who,  in  addition  to  this  intro- 
duction of  the  Sunday-school  cause  into  ecclesias- 
tical convocations,  would  have  each  denomination 
hold  a  separate  Sunday-school  convention  of  its 
own,  both  of  the  State  and  the  county,  and  on  this 
point  I  am  at  issue  with  them.  This  is  a  multipli- 
cation of  machinery  entirely  uncalled  for  and  un- 
necessary. The  Sunday-school  workers  of  any 
denomination  have  in  their  regular  ecclesiastical 
councils  all  the  machinery  they  need  for  conference 
and  counsel  and  the  prosecution  of  their  work  as  a 
denomination.  But  in  this  Sunday-school  work  we 
naturally  desire  to  profit  by  the  skill  and  experience  • 
of  those  outside  of  our  own  pale.  We  therefore 
come  together  in  State  and  county  conventions  in 
which  all  denominations  are  represented.  Improve- 
ment in  such  matters  comes  by  comparison.     Few 


TEACHERS   IN   COUNCIL.  25 1 

ever  attended  one  of  these  larsre  union  mcctinjjs 
without  feeling  that  he  had  learned  something  new, 
and  without  having  received  a  fresh  impulse,  such 
as  he  would  not  have  received  in  any  meeting  com- 
posed exclusively  of  those  of  his  own  particular  way 
of  thinking.  No  one  can  be  much  conversant  with 
the  Sunday-school  work  of  our  day  without  feeling 
that  the  Spirit  has  bestowed  special  gifts  in  this 
matter  to  one  and  another,  here  and  there,  in 
different  churches,  and  that  if  we  are  to  have 
Sunday-school  conventions  at  all,  and  derive  from 
them  the  full  benefits  that  they  are  suited  to 
give,  they  should  be  union  conventions,  where  the 
best  workers  and  thinkers  of  all  denominations 
may  be  brought  together  in  holy  and  fraternal 
counsel. 

I  would  urge  then  these  two  things:  First,  let 
each  denomination,  through  all  its  official  and  or- 
ganized agencies  as  a  denomination,  take  ujd  and 
push  forward  the  Sunday-school  cause  to  the  utmost 
of  its  strength.  The  more  any  church  pushes  its 
own  schools,  the  greater  and  more  beneficial  will  be 
the  impulse  it  will  give  to  the  schools  of  other 
churches.  Secondly,  let  the  Sunday-school  workers 
of  all  denominations  meet  yearly  in  county  and 
State  associations  of  a  union  character,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  discussing  those  questions  of  a  general 
nature  which  belong  equally  to  Christians  of  every 
name.  Denominational  activity,  through  the  regular 
ecclesiastical  channels,  will  help  the  union  meeting. 


252  TEACHERS  IN  COUNCIL. 

The  union  meeting  will  react  most  kindly  and  benef- 
icently upon  the  ecclesiastical  council.  There  is  no 
antagonism  between  the  two.  On  the  contrar}^, 
each  helps  the  other. 

But  it  will  be  in  vain  to  attempt  to  have  union 
Sunday-school  associations,  whether  for  the  county 
or  the  State,  if  there  are  to  be  denominational  asso- 
ciations for  the  same  purpose.  The  majority  both 
of  ministers  and  laymen  have  not  the  time,  and  can- 
not afford  the  expense  of  attending  more  than  one 
such  meeting.  If  the  denominational  association  is 
maintained,  it  will  kill  the  union  association,  and 
between  the  two  I  certainly  think  the  union  meeting 
vastly  the  more  important  and  necessary. 

My  view  of  the  matter  may  be  summed  up  in  a 
dozen  words.  Church  action  in  the  Sunday-school 
cause — union  action  in  Sunday-school  conventions. 

3.    County  Conventions. 

The  first  rule  to  be  observed  in  regard  to  all  such 
gatherings  is,  make  ample  preparation.  Those  who 
orisfinate  the  movement  must  not  imasfine  that  a 
mere  announcement  that  a  meeting  is  to  be  held  at  a 
certain  time  and  place  will  be  sufficient.  They  must 
bestir  themselves  diligently  in  making  the  thing 
thoroughly  known  and  talked  of  all  through  the 
county.  Ample  time  should  be  allowed  between 
the  issuing  of  the  call  and  the  time  for  holding  the 
meeting.  Handbills,  circulars,  pulpit  notices  and 
newspaper  notices  should  all  be  put  in  requisition. 


TEACHERS  IN  COUNCIL.  253 

The  newspapers  are  always  ready  to  co-operate  in 
any  such  enterprise,  and  lend  their  columns  freely, 
both  in  giving  notice  of  the  meetings  and  in  report- 
ing their  proceedings.  Get  the  ministers  to  urge 
their  people  to  attend.  • 

The  convention  should  be  held  at  a  convenient 
and  central  place.  The  count}/  town  is  a  good  place 
for  the  first  convention.  If  the  first  is  a  success, 
there  will  be  plenty  of  places  eager  for  the  privilege 
of  entertaining  the  second,  and  others  which  may  fol- 
low. Hold  it  in  the  largest  church,  and  see  that  the 
church  is  well  filled  at  each  session. 

Select  such  a  time  as  will  suit  the  greatest  number 
of  people,  remembering  that  it  is  impossible  to  suit 
everybody,  and  that  if  you  wait  for  a  time  which  will 
suit  everybody  you  will  indefinitely  postpone  your 
convention.  Two  or  three  days  will  generally  be 
found  enough  to  continue  the  convention.  In  some 
places  it  is  well  to  hold  it  in  the  middle  of  the  week  ; 
in  others  at  the  end  of  the  week,  closing  with  a  grand 
children's  meeting  and  other  public  exercises  on  the 
Lord's  day.  In  other  places  it  is  well  to  commence 
on  Sunday  with  such  sermons,  children's  meetings, 
etc.,  as  may  be  thought  best.  Tlie  circumstances 
differ  so  greatly  in  different  places  that  no  outside 
suggestion  in  this  respect  is  as  good  as  that  which 
the  residents  of  the  place  where  the  convention  is 
held  can  devise  for  themselves. 

When  the  convention  assembles  let  't  be  with  a 
prayerful  spirit  of  earnest  devotion  to  the  work,  and 
22 


254  TEACHERS   IN   COUNCIL. 

with  a  determination  not  to  waste  a  moment  in  any- 
thing foreign  to  the  purpose  for  which  the  people 
have  been  called  together. 

Select  for  officers  the  men  who  will  best  fulfil  the 
duties  required  of  them. 

Very  much  depends  on  the  Chairman.  A  dull 
chairman  can  put  the  convention  to  death  in  short 
order.  An  earnest  man,  prompt,  decided,  courteous, 
well  acquainted  with  the  rules  of  deliberative  bodies, 
will  contribute  much  toward  making  the  convention 
a  success.  The  chairman  should  keep  the  meetings 
moving  briskly,  confine  speakers  in  discussion  to  the 
subject  announced  to  be  discussed,  and  luive  courage 
enough  to  stop,  without  respect  of  persons,  any 
speaker  who  exceeds  his  allotted  time,  if  a  certain 
time  has  been  allotted. 

Much  depends  also  upon  getting  a  good  Secretary. 
He  need  not  be  a  man  of  great  gifts  as  a  speaker,  but 
he  should  possess  the  pen  of  a  ready  writer,  and 
should  be  a  man  of  accurate  habits  ;  otherwise  the 
minutes  of  the  convention  will  be  of  ver^^  little  use. 
If  there  is  no  newspaper  reporter  present,  the  secre- 
tary may  make  himself  useful  by  furnishing  a  report 
of  the  proceedings  to  the  newspapers. 

The  expenses  of  the  convention  should  be  met  by 
subscription  or  collection,  and  not  laid  on  any  one 
individual.  The  amount  of  money  required,  even 
for  a  most  excellent  convention,  is  so  small  that  it 
will  hardly  be  felt  if  collected  from  all  who  are  pres- 
ent.    Always  secure  funds  enough  to  save  the  gentle- 


TEACHERS   IN   COUNCIL.  255 

men  who  <^ct  up  the  convention  from  the  annoyance 
of  outstanding  bills.  It  is  well,  also,  at  each  con- 
vention to  secure  a  sufficient  amount  to  put  the  County 
Secretary  in  funds  for  the  work  expected  of  him  for 
the  year.  He  will  be  at  some  expense  for  stationery, 
postage,  travelling,  etc.,  and  it  is  right  that  he  should 
not  be  asked  either  to  incur  these  expenses  hijuself 
or  to  advance  the  necessary  amount  from  his  own 
pocket. 

Discussions  of  topics  of  interest  in  the  various 
branches  of  the  work  may  well  consume  a  large  part 
of  the  time  of  the  convention.  Select  your  topics 
with  care  and  with  a  view  to  the  most  practical  and 
profitable  remarks.  One  hour  at  each  session  may 
well  be  spent  in  discussion. 

Somebody  should  be  appointed  to  open  the  discus- 
sion on  each  subject.  Allow  him  ten  minutes.  The 
other  speakers  on  the  subject  may  be  allowed  less — 
say  five  minutes.  But  it  is  hard  to  say  exactly  how 
many  minutes  each  man  should  speak.  If  a  man 
discovers  on  rising  that  what  he  has  to  say  will  not 
hold  out  for  more  than  two  minutes,  he  is  under  no 
obligation  to  spin  it  out  to  five  merely  to  consume 
the  time.  Three-minute  speeches  have  been  very 
much  in  vogue,  but  the  fact  is  that  there  are  very  few 
people  who  can  say  a  great  deal  in  so  short  a  time. 
Whether  a  speech  is  long  or  short,  it  is  unwise  to 
begin  it\\ith  an  apology;  it  is  an  unnecessary  ex- 
penditure of  precious  time.  The  chairman  should 
confine  the  speakers  to  the  subject  under  discussion, 


256  TEACHERS  IN  COUNCIL. 

and  firmly  but  courteously  cause  each  speaker  to 
conclude  when  his  time  expires. 

Bring  out  your  home  talent  in  discussion  as  much 
as  possible,  and  let  no  man  be  afraid  to  speak  on  ac- 
count of  youth,  inexperience  or  supposed  lack  of  or- 
atorical ability.  It  is  very  important  that  the  discus- 
sion be  thrown  open  as  widely  as  possible  rather 
than  conducted  by  a  few  persons. 

Statistics,  if  they  have  been  carefully  collected  so 
as  to  be  reliable,  are  very  valuable.  It  is  tedious 
business,  however,  to  read  them,  and  few  people 
have  such  memories  as  to  remember  them  on  hear- 
ing them  read.  It  is  better  to  print  and  distribute 
them  ;  and  the  Secretary,  when  he  makes  his  report 
or  speech  about  them,  can  give  grand  totals  on  the 
blackboard,  with  the  certainty  that  this  will  be  more 
acceptable  to  his  hearers  and  more  profitable  than 
the  reading  of  a  long  string  of  figures. 

Children's  meetings  may  profitably  be^  held  in  con- 
nection with  almost  every  convention.  There  is  no 
trouble  in  filling  the  largest  church  with  the  children. 
Have  plenty  of  good  singing.  Three  or  four  speeches 
will  be  enough.  It  is  very  difficult  to  say  how  long 
they  ought  to  be.  While  it  is  well  to  make  them 
short,  remember  that  brevity  is  not  the  only  merit 
of  a  talk  to  children.  Some  men  can  interest  chil- 
dren for  three-quarters  of  an  hour,  while  others  have 
a  way  of  putting  them  to  sleep  in  five  minutes.  The 
latter  may  as  a  general  rule  be  excused  from  address- 
ing children's  meetings. 


TEACHERS  IN  COUNCIL.  257 

Above  all  things  try  to  make  these  meetings /ro/^ 
liable  as  well  as  interesting.  Amusement  is  well 
in  proper  time  and  place,  but  ?nere  amusement  is 
decidedly  out  of  place  at  such  gatherings.  The 
speaker  who  will  give  the  children  a  practical  re- 
ligious talk,  full  of  rich  illustration,  accompanying  it 
sometimes  with  a  little  exposition  of  some  passage 
of  Scripture,  will  do  little  people  more  good  than  he 
wdio  merely  entertains  them  with  story-telling.  Do 
not  weary  them.  An  hour  and  a  half  is  long  enough 
for  a  childreri's  meeting.  It  is  a  sin  to  keep  it  over 
two  hours. 

4.    County  Institutes. 

An  Institute  is  something  difierent  from  a  conven- 
tion, and  still  more  from  a  mass  meeting.  In  a  con- 
vention people  meet  more  or  less  in  a  delegated  ca- 
pacity and  for  the  purpose  of  mutual  conference, 
consultation  and  deliberative  action.  All  the  mem- 
bers are  on  an  equal  footing,  electing  their  officers 
and  controlling  their  own  proceedings.  They  meet 
to  tell  each  other  what  their  experience  in  the  good 
work  has  been,  to  exhort  each  other  and  to  pass  res- 
olutions. An  institute  is  altogether  a  different  aflair. 
It  is  rather  a  temporary  school,  in  which  a  certain 
number  of  speakers  are  present  by  invitation  as  in- 
structors or  teachers,  and  the  others  are  learners. 
They  do  not  meet  to  deliberate  and  resolve,  but  to 
teach  and  learn.  The  more  rigidly  the  exercises 
can  be  confined  to  this  idea  the  more  profitable  as 
22*  R 


258  TEACHERS  IN  COUNCIL. 

well  as  distinctive  the  institute  will  become.  All 
"five-minute"  speeches  or  "one-minute"  speeches 
or  pop-gun  exercises  of  any  kind  for  the  purpose  of 
letting  oft^gas  are  out  of  place.  Extempore  talk,  vol- 
unteering, making  apologies,  speeches  of  welcome, 
resolutions  of  thanks — resolutions  indeed  of  an}^  kind 
— are  all  and  equally  at  a  discount.  They  are  all  in 
place  at  a  convention  and  out  of  place  at  an  institute. 
The  institute  is  for  instruction.  Those  who  compose 
it  are  divided  into  two  classes,  teachers  and  scholars, 
and  the  exercises  should  be  based  on  this  idea.  There 
should  be,. as  in  a  school,  a  regular  and  exact  pro- 
gramme, fixed  beforehand,  and  filling  up  the  entire 
time  with  a  consecutive  series  of  carefully  prepared 
lessons  or  lectures,  and  without  even  a  minute  for 
any  sort  of  extemporaneous  fumbling. 

While  the  institute  and  the  convention  are  so  un- 
like in  object  and  in  their  methods  of  procedure, 
there  is  one  point  at  least  in  which  they  agree.  Both 
should  be  pervaded  with  a  spirit  of  prayer.  It  is 
well  in  both  to  begin  each  session  with  a  definite 
season,  say  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes,  for  devotional 
exercises. 

The  "question  drawer"  is  a  useful  part  of  the  ma- 
chinery of  an  institute.  It  gives  opportunity  for 
drawing  out  the  opinions  of  the  teachers  or  leaders 
of  the  institute  on  many  points  not  covered  by  the 
regular  exercises.  The  questions  ought  to  be  sent 
in  at  one  session  and  answered  at  the  next,  so  that 
the  answerers  may  have  time  to  prepare  themselves  ; 


TEACHERS  IN  COUNCIL.  259 

and  the  answers  should  be  simple,  direct  statements 
of  opinion,  without  going  into  any  argument  or  de- 
fence of  the  positions  assumed. 

The  proper  way  to  get  up  an  institute  is  for  some 
association  of  teachers  or  convention  to  resolve  to 
have  one,  and  to  appoint  a  conductor  and  a  suitable 
committee  for  carrying  the  project  into  effect.  The 
convention  or  association  which  resolves  upon  an 
institute  should  also  provide  the  means  for  holding 
it.  An  institute  that  is  good  for  anything  costs 
something.  The  teachers  who  give  up  their  busi- 
ness for  two  or  three  days,  besides  being  at  expense 
for  travelling,  etc.,  for  the  sake  of  learning  some- 
thing about  their  work  and  how  to  do  it,  think 
it  poor  economy  to  lose  their  time  and  labor  for 
the  sake  of  saving  a  few  dollars  in  the  bill  of  ex- 
penses. 

Tlie  proper  time  for  holding  an  institute  differs, 
according  as  it  is  held  in  the  city  or  country.  In  a 
large  city,  where  all  the  teachers  who  are  to  attend 
are  present,  it  is  best  usually  to  hold  the  institute 
only  in  the  afternoon  and  evening,  and  sometimes 
only  in  the  evening.  Six  successive  evenings,  or 
four  successive  afternoons  and  evenings,  make  a  good 
institute  for  a  city.  The  members  in  such  a  case 
attend  to  their  regular  worldly  business  in  the  morn- 
ing and  to  the  institute  in  the  afternoon  and  evening. 
In  the  country  the  case  is  ditTerent.  The  large  body 
of  those  attending  have  to  be  away  from  home.  In  all 
such  cases  the  number  of  days  should  be  fewer.    Two 


26o  TEACHERS  IN  COUNCIL. 

full  days,  with  morning,  afternoon  and  evening  ses- 
sions on  each  day,  make  a  good  institute.  Men  who 
will  give  up  their  entire  time  for  two  successive 
days,  having  a  session  of  three  hours  in  the  morning, 
three  in  the  afternoon  and  two  or  three  in  the  even- 
ing may  learn  a  good  deal  if  the  programme  is 
worth  anything. 

Institute  Programme.  In  making  up  a  pro- 
gramme no  little  judgment  is  to  be  exercised  so  as  to 
have  due  regard  to  variety  and  to  apportioning  the 
time  to  the  character  of  the  several  exercises.  Some 
topics  can  be  satisfactorily  disposed  of  in  fifteen 
minutes,  others  require  thirty  or  forty  minutes.  The 
time  table  should  be  as  definite  and  should  be  ad- 
hered to  as  closely  as  that  of  a  railroad.  Nothing 
should  be  at  loose  ends  or  hap-hazard. 

One  of  the  best  programmes  that  I  have  seen  of 
an  institute  was  that  held  in  Morristown,  New  Jer- 
%Qy.  in  November,  1867.  The  institute  occupied 
two  days.  The  sessions  were  from  half  past  ten  to 
twelve,  from  two  to  five  and  from  seven  to  ten  on 
Wednesday,  and  a  like  arrangement  on  Thursday 
except  that  on  that  day  they  began  at  half  past  nine. 
In  all  they  w^ere  in  session  sixteen  hours. 

Each  session  began  with  a  devotional  exercise  of 
twenty  minutes,  occupying  two  hours  out  of  the  six- 
teen. The  remaining  fourteen  hours  were  divided 
into  periods  of  varying  length,  from  fifteen  minutes 
to  sixty  minutes,  there  being,  how^ever,  but  one  exer- 
cise   of  the   latter    length,  namely,  an    infant   class 


TEACHERS   IN  COUNCIL.  261 

lesson  by  Ralph  Wells.     The   following  is   an   ab- 
stract of  this  progianimc  : 

PrograniDic  of  a?z  Listitute  held  hi  Morri^iovjn^ 
N.    y.,  November^   1S67. 

Wednesday  Morning. 

I.  zornvKoi^^.— Opening  Exercises.     Partly  devotional,  partly  "address  ol 
welcome."    The  latter  part  might  have  been  omitted  without  injury. 

II.  40  minutes. — The  work  of  the  Suuday-school  Teacher.     Rev.  Tiiomas  S. 
Hastings. 

III.  15  minutes. — The  Superintendent.     R.  G.  Pardee. 

IV.  5  minutes. — "One-minute"  speeches  from  five  difTerent  per=.ons,  volun- 
teers. 

Wednesday  Afternoon. 

I.  20  minutes. — Devotional.     Hon.  John  Hill,  conductor. 

II.  40  minutes. — Lecture  on  Sacred  Geography.     Rev.  Arthur  Mitchell. 

III.  40  minutes. — Various  u.ses  of  the  Blackboard.     Ralph  Wells. 

IV.  40  minutes. — Order  of  exercises  in   Sunday-school.     A.  Baldwin  and 
Ralph  Wells. 

V.  40  minutes.— Question  Box.     R.  G.  Pardee  and  Ralph  Wells. 

Wednesday  Evening. 

I.  20  minutes. — Devotional.     I^.  H.  A.  Butts,  conductor. 

II.  25  minutes. — Principles  of  Infant  Class  Teaching.    Rev.  J.  M.  Freeman. 

III.  60  minutes. — Infant  Class  Lesson.     Ralph  Wells. 

IV.  30  minutes. — Teacher  Preparation.     L.  P.  Cummings. 

V.  45  minutes. — Fifteen  "three-minute"  addresses. 

Thursday  Morning. 

I.  20  minutes. — Devotional.     Hon.  George  T.  Cobb,  conductor. 

II.  30  minutes. — Principles  of  Illustrative  Teaching.     Rev.  J.  M.  Freeman. 

III.  40  minutes. — Peculiar  Wants  of  Sunday-schools  in  Rural  Districts.     A. 
Baldwin,  Rev.  J.  M.  Johnson  and  R.  G.  Pardee. 

IV.  30  minutes. — Teacher  Teaching.     Ralph  Wells. 

V.  30  minutes. — Teachers'  Meetings.     Andrew  A.  Smith. 

Thursday  Afternoon. 

I.  20  minutes. — Devotional.     Rev.  S.  Smith,  conductor. 

II.  25  minutes. —  Blackboard  Uses  and  Picture  Teaching.     R.  G.  Pardee. 


262  TEACHERS  IN   COUNCIL. 

III.  20  minutes.— Relation  of  the  Sunday-school  to  the  Family.    Rev.  J.  \L 
Freeman. 

IV.  20  minutes. — Sunday-school  Music.     Lucius  Hart. 

V.  15  minutes. — Three  "five-minute"  Volunteers. 

VI.  25  minutes. — How  shall  we  interest  our  children  to  labor  for  Jesus? 

VII.  25  minutes. — Question  Box. 

VIII.  30  minutes. — Address.     Rev.  C.  S.  Robinson,  d.d. 

Thursday  Evening. 

I.  20  minutes. — Devotional.     Rev.  A.  Mitchell,  conductor. 

II.  20  minutes.— Mission  Sunday-schools.     Rev.  H.  A.  Butts. 

III.  45  minutes. — Bible  Lesson.     Andrew  A.  Smith. 

IV.  IS  minutes. — Importance  of  Inducing  the  Scholars  to  commit  Scripture 
Truths  to  memory.     Rev.  Sanford  Smith. 

V.  30  minutes.— Privileges  and  Rewards  of  Sunday-school  Teachers.     Rev. 
R.  J.  W.  Buckland. 

VI.  50  minutes. — "  Ten  addresses  of  five  minutes  each." 


It  is  desirable,  as  a  matter  of  theory,  that  there 
should  be  a  variety  and  frequent  change  in  the  exer- 
cises of  an  institute,  and  that  all  the  exercises  should 
be  short.  But  suppose  at  any  particular  institute 
circumstances  enable  the  managers  to  have  with  them 
some  very  eminent  worker  ♦n  the  cause  who  has 
come  five  hundred  or  a  thousand  miles,  and  who  can 
stay  only  a  day  or  half  a  day,  would  it  not  be  absurd 
to  chop  such  a  man  off  at  the  end  of  twenty  minutes 
because  a  programme  crowded  with  a  large  variety 
and  assortment  of  items  looks  a  little  better  on 
paper.?  In  large  cities  it  is  practicable  to  have  a 
number  of  stars  of  the  first  magnitude.  But  in  places 
remote  from  the  great  centres  such  a  result  is  not 
easily  attainable.  If,  in  some  interior  town,  in  con- 
nection with  a  good  assortment  of  local  talent,  it  is 
practicable  to  obtain  the  services  of  some  such  man 


TEACHERS  IN  COUNCIL.  263 

as  Mr.  Vincent,  Mr.  Reynolds,  Mr.  Wells  or  Mr. 
Peltz,  it  would  be  the  extreme  of  folly  not  to  make 
good  use  of  him  while  there,  even  if  tlie  programme 
did  sufler  a  little  by  the  operation.  The  object  of 
the  institute  is  to  promote  the  vSunday-school  cause, 
not  to  make  or  even  to  carry  out  a  programme. 

In  the  rebound  from  the  prosy,  slip-shod,  long- 
winded,  humdrum  ways  of  past  times,,  we  are  in 
danger  of  going  into  the  opposite  extreme  and  be- 
coming dapper  and  superficial.  While  it  is  import- 
ant to  cultivate  the  grace  of  brevity  and  to  have 
things  move  at  the  tap  of  the  bell,  and  while  per- 
haps the  majority  of  subjects  and  of  speakers  may 
appear  to  best  advantage  under  a  limitation  of  fifteen 
or  twenty  minutes,  yet  there  are  topics  and  men  that 
require  and  deserve  a  more  deliberate  hearing.  No 
institute  can  be  considered  as  of  first-class  character 
which  does  not  include  in  its  programme  at  least  one 
topic  to  which  justice  cannot  be  done  in  less  than  an 
hour,  and  at  least  one  speaker  in  regard  to  whom 
the  members  would  feel  it  to  be  a  positive  loss  to  let 
him  off  under  an  hour.  To  have  all  the  exercises,  or 
many  exercises  of  this  length,  would,  however,  be  as 
great  a  fault  as  to  have  them  of  the  three-minute  or 
pop-gun  order.  The  managers  of  an  institute  should 
study  variety  as  well  in  the  length  as  in  the  subjects 
of  discussion.  To  have  all  the  exercises  short  and 
snappy  is  to  turn  the  institute  into  an  exhibition 
room.  To  have  them  all  long  is  to  put  the  concern 
asleep.     The   prevalent   length   undoubtedly  should 


264         •         TEACHERS   IN   COUNCIL, 

be  about  twenty  minutes.  But  there  should  be  a  free 
range  about  this  point,  from  five  minutes  all  the 
way  up  to  sixty.  The  first  thing  for  the  managers 
to  do  before  making  up  a  programme  at  all  is  to  as- 
certain what  materials  are  at  their  disposal,  who  are 
to  be  had  for  the  occasion,  and  the  peculiarities  and 
gifts  of  each.  There  will  be  some  five-minute  men 
and  some  forty-minute  men,  and  occasionally  a  big 
gun  who  ought  to  have  an  hour.  Make  the  pro- 
gramme accordingly.  Do  not  cut  all  your  coats  to 
fit  either  Daniel  Lambert  or  Tom  Thumb,  but  take 
some  little  measure  of  your  men  before  you  proceed 
with  your  tailoring. 

A  printed  programme,  to  be  placed  in  the  hands 
of  all  the  members,  is  indispensable  to  the  thorough 
success  of  an  institute.  This  programme  should  be 
in  the  form  of  a  small  pamphlet  rather  than  a  broad 
sheet.  One  page  should  contain  the  names  and  post- 
office  addresses  of  the  managers,  conductor  and 
teachers.  The  hymns  to  be  sung  should  be  printed 
as  a  sort  of  appendix.  This  is  belter  than  borrow- 
ing a  big  pile  of  music  books  for  the  occasion.  The 
hymns  and  music  should  be  such  as  are  suitable  for 
use  in  Sunday-school.  They  may  not  be  perhaps  as 
appropriate  to  adults  as  others  that  could  be  selected. 
But  there  is  usually  at  an  institute  some  first-rate 
musical  talent,  and  the  members,  by  singing  together 
under  such  direction,  get  ideas  about  the  manner  of 
singing  such  pieces  in  their  own  school,  and  this  is 
as  important  to  them  as  any  of  the  other  exercises. 


TEACHERS  IN  COUNCIL.  265 

5.    Teachers'    Weekly  Meeting. 

The  association  of  teachers  for  the  purpose  of  mu- 
tual improvement  is  an  agency  for  good  second  to 
none.  It  is  a  great  mistake  when  a  teacher,  or  a 
person  in  any  kind  of  occupation,  isohites  himself 
from  his  fellows.  If  his  own  methods  and  plans  are 
good,  he  owes  it  to  the  cause  to  communicate  them  to 
others.  If  he  gains  nothing  himself  by  such  inter- 
course, he  imparts  an  important  benefit  to  his  fellow- 
laborers.  But  there  is  no  one,  no  matter  how  gifted 
or  accomplished,  that  has  not  much  to  learn,  and 
that  may  not  learn  by  the  interchange  of  thought 
with  others  working  in  the  same  field.  Nor  is  it 
only  from  the  great  and  distinguished  that  we  are  to 
learn.  The  very  humblest  worker  may  contribute 
something  to  the  common  weal.  He  who  has  most 
to  learn  on  his  own  account  may  yet  have  something 
to  teach  to  others. 

A  teacher  who  communes  only  with  his  own 
thoughts,  who  keeps  entirely  to  himself  and  his  own 
class,  is  neglecting  a  most  important  means  of 
growth.  Improvement  in  all  things  comes  by  com- 
parison. The  wide-awake  teacher  never  confers \ 
with  another  teacher,  or  visits  another  school,  with- 
out getting  new  ideas  and  having  his  old  ideas 
stirred  up.  A  method  that  is  diflerent  from  our 
own,  even  if  it  is  not  as  good  as  ours,  sets  us  to 
thinking.  It  shows  us  often  that  we  have  fiillen  un- 
consciously into  mere  routine,  and  without  drawing 


266  TEACHERS  IN  COUNCIL. 

us  into  another  man's  rut,  it  serves  to  drag  us  out  of 
our  own.  If  the  earnest  men  and  women  who  are 
carrying  forward  the  Sunday-school  movement  wish 
to  accomplish  really  great  things,  they  must  manage 
to  have  some  stated  times  for  conference  and  for  the 
comparison  of  thoughts  and  plans.  By  these  means 
poor  teachers  may  be  made  good  and  the  good  may 
be  made  better,  the  weak  may  become  stronger,  and 
the  strong  may  be  enlarged,  and  the  inventions  of 
one  become  the  possession  of  all. 

I  fear  that  in  many  schools  the  teachers  have  no 
stated  meetings  for  conference  and  study.  I  know 
there  are  practical  difficulties  in  the  way  of  keeping 
up  a  teachers'  meeting.  Of  the  six  weekday  even- 
ings, one  is  appropriated  to  the  weekly  lecture  and 
one  to  the  prayer-meeting,  and  it  is  rare  in  any  con- 
gregation that  a  week  passes  without  at  least  one 
extra  meeting  of  some  kind  connected  with  the  cause 
of  religion  and  benevolence.  Here  are  one-half  of 
one's  evenings  already  taken  up.  If  the  Sunday- 
school  is  to  occupy  a  fourth  evening  of  every  week, 
have  teachers  ordinarily  the  leisure  for  it.^ 

This  question  of  time  is  really  the  gravest  obstacle 
in  the  way  of  the  superintendent  who  seeks  to  have 
a  stated  meeting  with  his  teachers,  and  I  have 
known  more  than  one  earnest,  resolute  man,  who 
was  full  of  zeal,  and  whose  heart  was  much  set  on 
this  very  thing,  who  was  yet  obliged  to  abandon  the 
project  because  he  feared  to  multiply  meetings  in 
the   congregation.     Sunday-school   teachers  are   ex- 


TEACHERS   IN  COUNCIL.  267 

pected  as  a  matter  of  course  to  be  at  all  the  other 
meetings.  They  arc  at  tlie  lecture,  the  prayer-meet- 
ing, the  missionary,  the  Dorcas,  the  ladies'  aid  and 
other  societies.  If,  in  addition  to  these  and  to  the 
sessions  of  the  school  on  the  Sabbath,  and  the  visita- 
tion of  their  scholars,  one  evening  in  the  week  is  to 
be  given  to  a  special,  extra  service,  where  is  their 
leisure  to  come  from?  What  time  are  they  to  have 
for  social  claims  and  for  duty  in  other  directions? 
Will  it  not  deter  many  from  the  work  of  the  Sun- 
day-school, if  so  much  is  exacted  and  expected  of 
them  ? 

I  am  stating  the  case  strongly  perhaps.  But  the 
best  way  of  surmounting  a  difficulty  is  first  to  look  it 
full  in  the  face.  We  do  not  escape  danger  by  shut- 
ting our  eyes  to  it.  Let  us  admit  then  tiiat  an  undue 
multiplication  of  religious  services  is  an  evil,  and 
that  the  Sunday-school  teacher  has  already  a  heavy 
burden  of  duty  upon  his  shoulders.  But  in  under- 
taking this  additional  service,  he  is  to  consider 
whether  it  will  not  really  lighten  instead  of  increas- 
ing his  burden.  The  help  which  the  teacher  gets 
from  the  weekly  meeting  with  his  fellows  more  than 
compensates  for  the  time  it  costs.  An  hour  thus 
spent  often  puts  one  farther  forward  in  preparation 
for  the  Sunday  work  than  two  or  three  hours  spent 
in  solitary  study.  Aloreover,  at  such  a  meeting,  by 
a  free  interchange  and  comparison  of  thought,  we 
often  get  views  and  ideas  that  no  amount  of  solitary 
study  would  have  given  us,  and  we  almost  always 


268  TEACHERS   IN  COUNCIL. 

get  our  hearts  warmed  and  our  consciences  quick- 
ened by  this  contact  with  other  live  workers. 

But  in  discussing  this  question,  and  every  other 
question  connected  with  the  subject,  let  us  bear  in 
mind  that  the  Sunda} -school  work  is  a  great  work — 
second  only  to  that  of  the  pulpit.  The  more  we  fix 
our  thoughts  on  the  incalculable  good  we  may  ac- 
complish, the  less  will  we  think  of  the  difficulties. 
Set  before  the  teacher  the  brightness  of  the  crown  at 
the  top  of  the  long  ascent,  and  he  will  not  mind  a 
few  rubs  and  scratches  by  the  wa3^  If  by  spending 
an  hour  a  week  in  prayer  and  conference  with  his 
fellow-teachers  he  can  increase  perceptibly  the 
chances  of  his  winning  the  souls  of  his  pupils  as 
stars  in  the  crov>'n  of  his  rejoicing,  he  will  rather  re- 
joice at  the  opportunity  than  regard  it  as  a  hardshijD. 
Love  lightens  every  labor.  The  way  to  meet. this 
question  is  first  to  get  our  hearts  warmed  with  the 
thought  of  our  Saviour's  great  love  for  us  and  of  the 
infinite  preciousness  of  the  work  of  saving  souls. 
Certain  it  is  that  in  many  congregations  the  teachers 
do  find  a  way  of  meeting  statedly  for  study  and  con- 
ference, and  where  they  thus  meet  they  show  less 
signs  of  being  overburdened  than  where  they  have 
no  such  meeting.  There  may  be  cases  in  which  it 
would  be  advisable  for  a  teacher  to  absent  himself 
from  some  other  weekly  service  in  order  to  gain  the 
time  for  being  at  the  teachers'  meeting. 

I  cannot  but  think  that  in  every  congregation  in 
which  the  Sunday-school  teachers  have  no  regular 


TEACHERS  IN  COUNCIL.  269 

stated  times  of  meeting,  the  pastor  and  the  superin- 
tendent ought  to  take  the  matter  into  serious  consid- 
eration, and  not  to  let  such  a  stale  of  things  continue 
if  by  any  ordinary  exertions,  or  even  by  some  extra- 
ordinary exertions,  it  can  be  prevented. 

The  teachers'  meeting — by  which  phrase  I  mean 
the  teachersof  one  particular  school  meeting  statedly 
by  themselves  as  a  class — bears  about  the  same  rela- 
tion to  one  of  these  big  conventions  that  the  base  of 
a  pyramid  bears  to  the  apex.  The  latter  is  a  more 
conspicuous  object,  but  the  former  is  by  all  odds  the 
most  important.  It  is  important  indeed  that  the 
active  Sunday-school  w^orkers  of  a  whole  State, 
county  or  city  should  come  together  in  general  coun- 
cil once  a  year  to  compare  notes  and  to  devise  plans. 
But  it  is  incomparably  more  important  that  the  teach- 
ers in  each  particular  school  all  over  the  land  should 
come  together  from  week  to  week  all  through  the 
year.  Here  in  the  single  congregation  is  the  true 
place  for  the  Sunday-school  normal  institute.  In 
those  large  institutes  of  which  the  newspapers  have 
given  us  an  account,  principles  may  be  discussed  and 
methods  may  be  illustrated  by  lecturers  and  master 
workmen,  ideas  may  be  disseminated  and  impulses 
given,  but  the  carrying  out  of  the  scheme  into  prac- 
tical results  is  a  work  for  single  congregations.  Here 
the  members  are  all  acquainted  with  each  other  ; 
they  have  a  common  interest,  and  may  have  a  com- 
mon lesson  ;  the  number  is  not  so  large  but  that  all 
may  take  part ;  and  by  continuing  to  meet  weekly, 
23* 


2*jO  TEACHERS  IN    COUNCIL. 

year  after  year,  there  is  a  reasonable  chance  that 
they  will  acquire  not  merely  knowledge  and  good 
theoretical  views,  but  practical  skill. 

Teachers'  meetings  are  no  new  thing.  They  date 
back  almost  as  far  as  the  Sunday-school  itself.  If  I 
mistake  not,  they  were  more  common  thirty  or  forty 
years  ago  than  they  are  now ;  but  in  the  teachers* 
meeting  as  it  existed  in  a  former  generation  the  ex- 
ercises were  limited  to  prayer  for  the  school  and 
studying  the  lesson.  In  urging  the  maintenance  of 
this  meeting  upon  our  teachers  now  these  two  ob- 
jects, prayer  and  study  of  the  lesson,  are  still  to  be 
kept  in  view.  But  there  is  now  an  important  addi- 
tion to  the  exercises  imperatively  called  for.  A  thor- 
ough knowledge  of  the  lesson  is  absolutely  essential 
to  all  good  teaching,  and  for  obtaining  such  a  know- 
ledge a  teachers'  meeting  is  a  great  help.  While 
discussing  the  various  topics  of  the  lesson  with  our 
fellow-teachers,  we  gather  up  hints  and  ideas  that  we 
would  never  get  from  mere  solitary  study.  But  some- 
thing more  than  this  knowledge  is  needed  in  order 
to  teach.  The  teachers'  meeting  must  be  something 
more  than  a  mere  Bible  class.  It  must  be  a  normal 
class,  in  which  the  members,  besides  investigating 
the  lesson,  may  study  methods  of  teaching  and  gov- 
erning, and  may  each  in  turn  give  a  practice  lesson 
under  the  guidance  of  the  pastor  or  superintendent 
and  the  kindly  criticism  of  their  fellows. 

To  see  some  one  else  give  a  practice  lesson  gives  us 
new  views.     It  improves  our  theoretical  knowledge, 


TEACHERS  IN  COUNCIL.  271 

but  it  imparts  no  skill  to  ourselves.  We  learn  to  do 
a  thing  by  doi77g  it.  There  is  no  other  way.  If  it 
js  not  practicable  at  a  teachers'  meeting  to  have  a 
class  of  children  present  to  practice  on,  let  the  teach-^ 
ers  practice  on  each  other.  This  is  constantly  done 
in  normal  schools.  One  of  the  class  takes  charge  of 
it  as  teacher,  and  goes  through  the  lesson  to  the  best 
of  his  or  her  ability.  Then  the  regular  teacher  and 
the  members  of  the  class  discuss  in  a  friendly  spirit 
the  manner  in  w^hich  the  instruction  was  given,  offer- 
ing suggestions  and  criticisms.  The  process  is  at 
first  rather  embarrassing,  and  it  requires  no  little 
gentleness  and  tact  on  the  part  of  the  conductor. 
But  after  a  while  the  parties  become  more  at  their 
ease  and  acquire  greater  freedom  of  action  ;  the  ex- 
ercise then  becomes  in  the  highest  degree  interesting 
and  exciting.  A  teacher  who  has  once  fairly  gone 
through  the  ordeal  of  teaching  a  lesson  to  his  fellows 
feels  a  degree  of  confidence  when  coming  before  his 
own  class  that  nothing  else  could  give,  and  this  con- 
fidence and  self-possession  is  always  an  element  of 
power  when  in  the  presence  of  a  class. 

Besides  these  two  things,  the  study  of  the  lesson 
and  practice  teaching,  the  teachers'  meeting  should 
set  apart  a  regular  portion  of  its  time  to  the  consid- 
eration of  the  numerous  questions  connected  with 
the  science  of  teaching.  The  literature  of  this  sub- 
ject is  ample  and  is  increasing,  and  Sunday-school 
teachers  would  do  well  to  acquaint  themselves  with 
it  more  than  they  are  in  the  habit  of  doing.     Besides 


272  TEACHERS  IN  COUNCIL. 

the  books  which  discuss  exckisively  Sunday-school 
methods,  there  are  excellent  treatises  on  the  general 
subject  of  teaching  and  school  government,  and  the 
perusal  of  these  could  not  fail  to  be  of  eminent  ser- 
vice to  the  Sunday-school  teacher. 

A  Sunday-school  teacher  w^ho  will  acquaint  him- 
self with  any  considerable  number  of  these  works 
can  hardly  fail  to  derive  benefit  from  them  for  the 
discharge  of  his  own  special  duties.  These  works 
abound  with  suggestions  which  apply  to  Sunday- 
school  teaching  as  much  as  to  any  other  teaching. 

But  to  return  to  our  subject,  the  teachers'  meeting. 
I  hold  that  this  is  the  true  starting-point  for  all  gen- 
eral and  permanent  improvement  in  our  Sunday- 
schools.  The  teachers  of  every  school  ought  to  meet 
weekly  by  tliemselves  as  a  normal  class.  The  exer- 
cises of  this  class  ought  to  be  :  i.  The  thorough 
study  of  the  lesson  ;  2.  Practice  teaching,  in  which 
there  should  be  no  mere  spectators,  but  all  in  turn 
and  equally  should  be  actors ;  and,  3.  A  discussion 
of  some  of  the  general  principles  of  teaching  and 
school  government. 


CHAPTER  VI. 
THE  SUNDAY-SCHOOL  LIBRARY. 


PART  I. 

HOW    TO    SELECT    A    LIBRARY. 

HE  subject  of  Sunday-school  books  and 
papers  has  assumed  such  proportions  that 
the  friends  of  Sunday-schools  can  no  longer 
ignore  it,  if  they  would.  The  time  was,  and  that 
within  the  memory  of  some  still  living,  when  Jud- 
son's  Questions,  Anna  Ross,  Little  Henry  and  his 
Bearer,  and  some  half-a-dozen  other  books,  which 
could  be  counted  on  your  fingers,  constituted  the  en- 
tire encyclopaedia  of  Sunday-school  literature.  Now 
the  number  of  books  clamoring  for  admission  at  the 
doors  of  the  Sunday-school  library  is  absolutely  ap- 
palling. The  number  of  publishing  houses  actively 
engaged  in  the  production  of  this  class  of  books, 
including  the  great  religious  publication  societies,  is 
not  less  than  thirty-six,  wielding  a  capital  of  at 
least  five  millions  of  dollars.  The  books  already 
produced  are  numbered  by  thousands  (seven  thou- 
S  273 


274       THE  SUNDAT-SCHOOL  LIBRARY. 

sand  is  probably  a  moderate  estimate),  and  they  are 
increasing  at  a  rate  that  is  really  frightful.  The 
number  of  new  Sunday-school  library  books  has  for 
several  years  exceeded  the  rate  of  one  a  day,  and  it 
is  all  the  while  increasing.  It  was  four  hundred  and 
thirty-four  in  1868,  and  probably  reached  five  hun- 
dred in  1869.  Qiiestion-books,  Record-books,  Pic- 
ture-cards, Maps,  Reference-books,  and  Periodicals, 
weekly  and  monthly,  have  increased  in  a  like  pro- 
portion. 

The  church  committee,  therefore,  the  pastor,  the 
superintendent,  the  librarian,  or  whoever  it  is  that 
is  entrusted  with  the  duty  of  furnishing  the  Sunday- 
school  with  books  and  other  supplies,  is  compelled 
to  pause.  He  must  perforce  give  the  matter  some 
thought,  and  determine,  if  possible,  upon  some  prin- 
ciple of  selection.  No  haphazard  purchases  will  be 
satisfactory  where  there  is  such  a  vast  variety  from 
which  to  choose,  and  where  there  is  of  necessity  so 
much  that  is  mere  trash,  if  not  worse.  Not  only 
should  the  superintendent,  or  the  committee-man, 
pause,  but  the  Christian  community  should  pause. 
Here  is  a  practical  question  which  we  can  neither 
ignore  nor  evade,  and  it  has  already  assumed  such 
proportions  that  we  -must  either  master  it  or  be  mas- 
tered by  it.  The  reading  which  the  Sunday-school 
library  supplies  forms  no  inconsiderable  part  both 
of  the  religious  and  the  literary  food  of  the  com- 
munity. Every  child  that  attends  the  Sunday- 
school  expects,  as  a  matter  of  course,  to  take  home 


THE  SUNDAY-SCHOOL  LIBRARY.       275 

a  library-book  every  Sunday,  and  this  book  is  read 
not  only  by  the  child  that  takes  it  home,  but  by  other 
members  of  the  family.  It  is  speaking  within  bounds 
to  say  that  not  less  than  three  millions  of  these 
bright  little  volumes  are  carried  home  weekly,  and 
each  of  them  is  read  by  not  less  than  three  persons 
on  the  average.  The  influence  of  such  a  fact,  like 
that  of  the  dew  and  the  light  and  some  of  the  other 
noiseless  agencies  of  nature,  is  beyond  the  power 
of  computation  or  of  statement.  We  have  evoked 
a  power  that  will  not  be  laid  at  our  bidding.  The 
appetite  for  reading,  like  that  for  food  or  for  drink, 
when  once  aroused,  will  take  no  denial,  and  in  the 
case  of  the  young  it  devours  without  discrimination 
whatever  is  set  before  it.  Food  or  poison,  so  it  sat- 
isfies hunger,  it  is  eagerly  swallowed. 
What  shall  we  do  ? 

First,  we  are  not  to  raise  a  howl  of  lamentation 
about  it.  As  well  might  a  farmer  go  about  groan- 
ing and  grumbling  because  his  acres  yield  such  a 
prodigious  growth  of  weeds.  The  very  rankness 
of  this  growth  only  shows  how  fat  is  his  soil,  how 
genial  have  been  his  skies.  The  very  luxuriance  of 
this  juvenile  literature,  while  it  necessitates  increased 
labor  and  care,  is  yet  one  of  the  hopeful  signs  of  the 
times.  Only  we  must  do  as  does  the  thrifty  farmer 
— we  must  spare  no  pains  in  the  work  of  weeding. 
If  our  children  refused  to  read  at  all,  or  if  there 
were  no  books  of  any  kind  to  tempt  them,  or  if  all 
that  the  soil  of  literature  produced  were  weeds,  we 


2']6       THE  SUNDAT-SCHOOL  LIBRARY. 

might  well  groan  and  howl.  But  in  the  present 
case  indiscriminate  croaking  is  as  unreasonable  as 
it  is  useless.  In  the  face  of  such  a  state  of  things 
as  we  have  described,  mere  grumbling  has  about  as 
much  effect  as  grumbling  at  the  weather  has  ;  it  does 
not  make  the  number  of  books  produced  or  the 
number  read  one  volume  less ;  and,  like  finding 
fault  with  the  weather,  it  ignores  the  countless 
blessings  produced  by  those  very  clouds  and  show- 
ers and  dew  and  frost  which  we  are  so  constantly 
berating. 

What  then  shall  we  do  } 

I  answer  :  The  subject  of  juvenile  religious  litera- 
ture must  occupy  more  of  the  serious  and  deliberate 
attention  of  the  Christian  community  than  it  has 
hitherto  done.  It  is  not  a  subject  to  be  estimated 
by  the  puny  size  of  the  volumes  concerned,  nor  is  it 
one  to  be  left  to  the  judgment  of  the  youngest  and 
least  experienced  in  the  congregation — the  giggling, 
sentimental  misses,  who,  not  old  enough  to  take 
charge  of  a  class,  are  sometimes  thought  quite  com- 
petent to  have  charge  of  the  library,  and  who  often 
really  have  more  to  say  as  to  the  choice  of  the  books 
than  have  the  minister,  the  superintendent  and  the 
librarian.  Verily,  such  things  ought  not  to  be. 
Next  to  the  choice  oj"  a  superintendent^  there  is 
no  graver  subject  of  consideration  for  a-  Sunday- 
school  than  the  selection  of  its  library  books.  It 
is  entitled  to  the  best  judgment  of  the  soundest 
heads  that  the  congregation  or  the  church  contains. 


THE  SUNDAY-SCHOOL  LIBRARY.       277 

It  should  be  made  a  prominent  subject  for  examina- 
tion and  debate  at  every  convention  of  Sunday- 
school  teachers.  It  should  be  made  a  part  of  the 
standing  order  of  business  for  every  ecclesiastical 
synod  or  assembly.  The  three  millions  of  Sunday- 
school  books  devoured  every  week  in  the  chimney- 
corner  and  the  nursery  are  of  quite  as  much  conse- 
quence to  the  health  of  the  church  as  are  the  few 
hundreds  or  thousands  of  ponderous  octavos  and 
quartos  which  in  the  course  of  the  year  find  their 
way  to  the  shelves  of  the  theologians. 

But,  once  more,  says  the  reader,  what  is  to  be 
done?  What  is  your  plan  of  operations.^  How  are 
we  to  get  at  it,  as  a  practical  question.'*  Suppose 
the  case  of  a  new  school  about  to  be  organized,  or 
of  an  old  school  about  to  renew  its  library,  how 
shall  they  go  to  work  to  root  out  the  weeds,  or  to 
select  the  pure  wheat  out  of  the  vast  mass  that  lies 
before  them  1 

These  are  reasonable  questions.  I  shall  endeavor 
to  give  them  an  explicit  answer. 

How  shall  we  select  our  Stiiiday-sckool  books? 

I  take  it  for  granted  that  there  must  be  a  selection. 
The  number  of  books  oflering  is  so  great  that  no 
Sunday-school  can  take  them  all,  and  if  it  could,  it 
would  be  very  unwise  to  do  so,  for  out  of  this  vast 
number  of  competing  books  very  many  are  such  as 
ought  never  to  see  the  inside  of  a  Sunday-school 
library.     A  school,  therefore,  which  undertakes  to 

24 


278        THE  SUNDAY-SCHOOL  LIBRARY. 

replenish  its  library,  must  make  up  its  mind  that 
something  is  to  be  done  besides  collecting  money. 
Some  thought  and  labor  must  be  bestowed  upon  it. 

This,  then,  is  the  first  thing  for  the  minister  and 
the  superintendent  to  do  when  a  new  library  is  to  be 
bought.  Let  them  make  a  stir  about  it,  and  keep 
on  stirring,  until  a  right  feeling  of  the  importance 
of  the  subject  is  awakened  in  the  congregation.  Un- 
less the  people  first  feel  that  it  is  really  of  some  im- 
portance, and  of  very  grave  importance,  to  know 
what  books  their  children  shall  receive  from  the 
Sunday-school  library,  there  will  be  difficulty  in  get- 
ting the  necessary  help.  These  books  preach  to  the 
children,  silently,  perhaps,  but  not  the  less  effect- 
ively, and  it  behooves  a  people  to  know  that  this 
preaching  is  of  the  right  sort,  quite  as  much  as  that 
which  is  addressed  to  them  from  the  pulpit. 

Let  the  minister,  the  superintendent,  or  whoever 
is  to  engineer  the  matter,  take  his  stand  here,  and 
say,  No  book  shall  come  into  the  library  until  it  has 
been  read  a7zd  approved  by  some  one  i?i  whose 
judg7nent  on  such  matters  the  people  have  confi- 
dence. Nothing  like  standing  still  to  wake  people 
up.  When  a  locomotive  meets  an  obstruction,  and 
the  train  comes  to  a  sudden  halt,  everybody  is  wide 
awake  in  an  instant.  If  the  superintendent  finds  the 
people  in  a  sound  sleep  on  this  subject  of  the  library 
books,  let  him  close  the  library  ;  close  the  school  if 
necessary  ;  bring  matters  up  with  a  round  turn  ;  do 
something  to  wake  the  people  out  of  their  sleep. 


THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL   LIBRARY.       279 

But  suppose  everybody  wide  awake,  what  next? 
Let  it  be  understood  that  work  is  required,  and  this 
work  is  not  of  that  kind  which  is  to  be  done  with  a 
hurrah  and  a  flourish  and  under  social  excitement, 
like  that  of  getting  up  an  anniversary,  a  pic-nic,  or 
an  excursion,  but  is  something  to  be  done  with  slow, 
patient,  solitary  labor  —  something  that  will  take 
time,  and  that  involves  no  little  of  irksome  drudgery. 

There  is  needed,  in  short, 

A'  Reading  Committee. 

The  duty  of  the  Reading  Committee  should  be 
to  read  and  approve  every  book  that  comes  into  the 
library ;  and  if  two  or  three  hundred  new  volumes 
are  needed — which  is  no  uncommon  demand — it 
will  be  seen  that  the  position  of  the  committee  is  no 
sinecure.  Yet  is  not  this  what  is  required  and  ex- 
pected of  those  who  are  the  guardians  of  our  public 
schools?  Do  not  the  books  in  use  in  those  schools 
have  to  pass  a  rigid  scrutiny,  each  book  in  detail, 
on  its  own  individual  merits?  And  do  we  not  hold 
to  a  strict  accountability  our  school  directors  and 
trustees  for  the  manner  in  which  they  discharge  this 
trust?  And  are  the  books  which  are  to  be  used  in 
our  Sunday-schools  of  less  importance  than  those 
which  are  used  in  our  week-day  schools?  Surely 
there  are  in  every  congregation  men  and  women 
enough,  and  of  the  right  kind,  too,  if  the  proper 
means  are  taken  for  bringing  this  subject  before 
them,  to  undertake  and  carry  through  this  work  of 


28o        THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL  LIBRAR2. 

examining  and  passing  judgment  upon  the  books 
which  are  to  go  into  the  Sunday-school  library,  and 
which  are  to  mould,  to  so  large  an  extent,  the  re- 
ligious views  of  the  youth  of  the  congregation. 

The  Selectio7t  of  the   Committee, 

Who  are  to  select  this  committee,  and  of  what 
kind  of  persons  should  it  consist? 

As  to  the  power  of  selection  or  appointment,  that 
will  of  course  depend  upon  the  usages  in  each  con- 
gregation. Whoever  in  the  congregation  has  by 
law  or  usage  the  control  of  the  Sunday-school,  has 
the  control  of  this  matter  also.  Churches  vary 
much  in  their  views  in  regard  to  the  control  of  the 
Sunday-school.  In  many  cases  this  institution  is 
altogether  at  loose  ends,  being  considered  as  a  sort 
of  independent,  irresponsible  concern,  and  left  to 
manage  itself  in  whatever  way  it  pleases.  I  have 
no  sympathy  with  any  such  views.  I  am  most 
decidedly  of  the  opinion  that  the  pastor,  the  session, 
the  vestry,  whatever  man  or  men  constitute  the  gov- 
erning power  of  the  church  in  its  spiritual  concerns, 
should  be  the  ultimate,  controlling  power  of  the 
Sunday-school.  The  simplest  and  the  safest  organ- 
ization for  a  Sunday-school  is  that  in  which  the 
superintendent  holds  his  appointment  directly  from 
the  church  authorities,  and  in  his  management  of 
the  school  is  considered  as  representing  the  church 
authorities — acting  for  them  and  carrying  out  their 
views.    That  same  authority,  then,  is  the  one  to  call 


THE  SUNDAT-SCHOOL  LIBRAE T.       28 1 

into  existence  the  Reading  Committee  of  which  we 
are  now  in  search.  Practically,  in  most  cases,  the 
selection  of  the  committee  will  rest  with  the  min- 
ister and  the  superintendent,  and  these  two  officers 
will  also  have  to  do  work  as  members  of  the  com- 
mittee. Often,  indeed,  the  whole  work  is  thrown 
upon  these  two  officers,  sometimes  upon  one  of 
them.  But  such  a  plan  is  eminently  unwise,  and 
can  rarely  be  necessary.  No  one  man  can  find  the 
time  to  do  the  whole  work,  and  do  it  well  and  with 
the  proper  promptness,  and  that  congregation  must 
be  exceptional  indeed  in  which  there  are  not  some 
members  competent  to  act  upon  such  a  committee 
besides  the  minister  and  the  superintendent.  It  is  a 
case  in  which,  of  all  others,  division  of  labor  is 
desirable. 

Having  determined  in  some  way,  by  whom  this 
important  committee  is  to  be  appointed — whether 
by  a  vote  of  the  teachers,  by  the  superintendent,  by 
the  minister,  or  by  the  church  session,  the  next 
question,  and  one  coming  even  more  directly  home 
to  the  very  heart  of  the  business,  is,  What  sort  of 
persons  are  needed  for  this  committee.?  What  are 
the  qualifications  desirable  in  those  to  whose  judg- 
ment we  shall  leave  the  selection  of  our  library 
books,  and  what  rules  should  govern  them  in  mak- 
ing the  selection  ? 

Without    some    clear   and   well-defined  views  on 
this   point,    we    shall    be    in    danger   of  making   a 
most  serious  mistake. 
24* 


282        THE  SUNDAY-SCHOOL  LIBRARY. 

To  this  point,  then,  I  shall  next  direct  the  atten- 
tion of  my  readers. 

What  Sort  of  Persons  should  be  on  the  Reading 
Committee  ? 

Not  every  one  is  fitted  to  choose  books  for  the 
Sunday-school  library.  Something  more  is  needed 
than  piety,  good  intentions,  and  willingness  to  do 
the  work. 

1.  In  the  first  place,  the  person  appointed  for  this 
purpose  ought  to  be  one  who  has  some  education 
and  literary  culture.  Of  course,  a  book  is  not  to 
be  selected  merely  because  of  its  style  as  a  literary 
performance.  But  unfortunately,  some  of  the  books 
now  written  for  children  have  literary  blemishes 
which  ought  to  exclude  them  from  every  Sunday- 
school  library.  So  long  as  we  have  such  an  abun- 
dance of  what  is  unexceptionable  in  every  respect, 
there  is  no  excuse  for  putting  into  the  hands  of  our 
children  what  is  not  good  English  —  slang,  bad 
grammar,  bad  rhetoric,  tinsel,  sickly  sentimental- 
ism,  or  windy  hifalutin.  The  persons  entrusted 
with  the  selection  of  the  library  ought  to  have  suf- 
ficient literary  taste  and  judgment  to  be  able  to  ex- 
clude all  such  wretched  stufi',  and  I  assure  my  read- 
ers there  is  no  little  of  it  in  the  market. 

2.  In  the  second  place,  the  committee  ought  to  be 
well  acquainted  with  Christian  doctrine,  and  es- 
pecially with  the  doctrines  peculiar  to  their  own 
church.      Of  course,    it   is    not   to   be   required  of 


THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL   LIBRARY.       2S3 

every  book  that  goes  into  the  library  that  it  teaches 
the  tlistinct  peculiarities  of  the  church  to  which  the 
school  belongs,  or  that  it  teaches  all  the  distinguish- 
ing doctrines  of  Christianity.  What  is  required 
just  here  is  a  negative  safeguard.  We  want  some 
one  competent  to  see  that,  under  the  guise  of  a 
pleasant  sentimental  story,  imj^ressions  or  thoughts 
are  not  conveyed  prejudicial  to  the  truth  as  em- 
braced by  Christians  generally,  or  to  the  truth  as 
held  by  that  particular  church.  Some  of  our  most 
popular  works  of  fiction  are  in  tliis  way  quietly  sap- 
ping the  foundations  of  religious  truth.  The  evil 
is  not  absent  entirely  from  the  religious  story-books 
written  for  children,  and  those  appointed  to  examine 
these  books  with  a  view  to  selection  should  be  clear- 
headed in  doctrinal  matters,  able  to  detect  all  false 
teaching,  no  matter  how  much  it  may  be  sugar- 
coated. 

3.  In  the  third  place,  the  committee  ought  to  con- 
sist of  those  who  have  some  sympathy  with  the 
wants  and  the  tastes  of  children.  It  is  of  no  avail 
that  a  book  is  in  faultless  English,  and  that  its  or- 
thodoxy is  above  suspicion,  if  the  book  itself  is  dull, 
heavy,  uninteresting,  abstruse,  or  above  tlie  chil- 
dren's heads.  Doubtless  such  a  book  will  do  no 
harm,  but  it  will  also  do  no  good.  Such  books  are 
perhaps  a  convenience  to  the  librarian.  They  are 
always  in  their  places  on  the  shelf,  they  never  are 
lost,  they  never  want  rebinding.  I  have  seen  scores 
and  hundreds  of  such  volumes  holding  their  places 


284        THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL  LIBRARY. 

in  the  library,  undisturbed  year  in  and  year  out,  and 
just  as  good  and  fresh  in  paper  and  binding  at  the 
end  of  eight  or  ten  years  as  when  first  placed  upon 
the  shelf.  The  books  may  perhaps  be  very  good  in 
themselves,  such  as  would  interest  and  profit  a  dif- 
ferent class  of  readers,  but  they  do  not  interest  chil- 
dren. The  young  cannot  be  made  to  read  them, 
except  only  as  they  may  be  made  to  take  rhubarb, 
or  to  do  anything  else  that  is  disagreeable.  No  one, 
therefore,  is  suited  to  serve  on  the  book  committee 
who  has  not  some  practical  acquaintance  with  the 
wants  and  the  tastes  of  the  young.  No  one,  also, 
should  be  selected  for  such  a  service  who  has  the 
impracticable  notion  that  any  book  is  fit  for  the  li- 
brary if  only  it  is  a  good  book.  Edwards  on  the 
Afl^ections  is  a  good  book,  but  it  is  not  good  for  the 
Sunday-school  library,  though  it  is  sometimes  placed 
there. 

What  Sort  of  Books  should  be  Selected f 
First,  negatively.     No  book  should  be  admitted 
to  the  library  which  is  in  bad  English,  none  which 
is  unsound  in  doctrine,  none  which  from  want  of 
attraction  will  not  be  read  by  the  scholars. 

Thus  far  the  way  is  clear.  But  let  us  now  ad- 
vance one  step  farther.  Not  every  book  which 
is  attractive  to  the  scholars  is  necessarily  a  fit 
book  for  the  Hbrary.  A  volume  may  be  one  of 
absorbing  interest,  one  that  the  scholars  will  de- 
vour with   greediness,  and  yet  it  may  be  no  more 


THE  SUNDAY-SCHOOL  LIBRARY.       2S5 

fit  for  the  Sunday-school  library  than  Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin  or  Old  Mortality.  The  mere  fact  that 
a  book  is  intensely  interesting,  and  that  it  is  especi- 
ally interesting  to  the  young,  is  no  proof  of  its  fit- 
ness for  the  library.  A  book  ??iay  be  too  interesting. 
The  story  may  be  of  such  an  exciting  and  absorb- 
ing character  as  to  create  a  false  and  depraved  taste, 
and  so  to  unfit  the  youthful  mind  for  reading  of  a 
sober  and  healthful  character. 

The  positive  requirements  of  a  Sunday-school 
book  are  few  and  plain  :  i.  It  should  be  sufficiently 
interesting  to  secure  a  perusal  from  ordinary  youth. 
2.  The  interest  should  turn,  not  upon  love  and  mat- 
rimony, or  anything  of  that  sort,  but  upon  points  of 
duty  and  doctrine.  3.  It  should  teach  religion.  4. 
The  religion  which  it  teaches  should  not  be  of  the 
sentimental  kind,  like  that  of  Dickens's  Little 
Nell,  which  quietly  ignores  all  that  is  peculiar  to 
Christianity,  and  sends  people  straight  to  heaven 
if  only  the  circumstances  of  their  dpath  happen  to 
be  pathetic.  The  religion  inculcated  in  the  Sunday- 
school  library-book  should  be  something  distinctly 
taught  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  connected  with 
the  way  of  salvation  through  Jesus  Christ.  A  book 
is  not  religious  merely  because  it  touches  the  feel- 
ings and  opens  the  fountain  of  tears.  Let  the  in- 
exorable demand  of  all  these  authors  who  are  flood- 
ing the  land  with  story-books  for  children  be  that 
no  story,  how  pathetic  or  thrilling  soever,  shall  be 
deemed  fit  for  the  Sunday-school,  unless  its  manifest 


286        THE   SUNDAT-SCHOOL  LIBRAE T, 

aim  is  to  set  forth  attractively  the  peculiar  doctrines 
of  the  gospel — faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  re 
pentance  for  sin,  and  a  holy  life,  as  that  life  is  de 
scribed  in  God's  Word.  The  conversion,  the  repent 
ance,  the  religious  experience,  the  good  deeds  which 
are  wrought  up  into  the  story,  and  constitute  its  sub- 
stance, should  be  such  as  will  bear  the  test  of 
Scripture. 

It  is,  I  think,  a  serious  mistake  in  these  religious 
story-books,  to  describe  the  good  children  as  all  dy- 
ing young.  It  begets  in  the  minds  of  the  youthful 
readers  the  idea  that  religion  is  a  mere  matter  of 
deathbeds,  and  that  if  a  youth  becomes  a  Christian 
he  will,  as  a  matter  of  course,  die  early.  Another 
mistake  is  to  imagine  that  a  story  to  be  interesting 
should  contain  the  whole  life  of  any  one.  In  both 
of  these  respects  there  has  been  of  late  years  a  great 
improvement.  Some  of  the  very  best  books  now 
offering  contain  only  a  single  episode  or  transaction 
in  the  life  of  thq  boy  or  girl  described — the  narrative 
of  a  single  summer,  or  of  a  trip  to  the  seaside,  or 
something  of  that  sort,  the  object  being  to  bring  out 
in  narrative  form  some  particular  type  of  Christian 
character  or  duty.  I  cannot  speak  too  highly  o:^ 
such  a  method. 

How  to  Select  a  Library. 

We  will  suppose  a  committee  appointed  for  the 
purpose  of  choosing  books  for  the  Sunday-school 
library.     We  will  suppose  the  committee  to  consist 


THE  SUNDAr-SCHOOL   LI  BR  ART.       28  7 

of  persons  competent  and  willing  to  undertake  the 
work — persons  of  some  education  and  literary  cul- 
ture, well  informed  in  matters  of  doctrine,  in  hearty 
sympathy  with  the  wants  and  tastes  of  youth,  and 
having  the  necessary  leisure.  Suppose  such  a  com- 
mittee organized  and  ready  to  go  to  work.  What  is 
the  first  thing  they  should  do.^* 

It  is  obvious  that  the  committee  should  know  first 
of  all  how  much  money  they  have  to  spend.  Next, 
they  should  take  some  precaution  not  to  duplicate 
books  which  the  scholars  have  had  already.  Thirdly, 
they  should  consider  the  proportion  needed  of  each 
particular  class  of  books.  Some  of  the  books  offer- 
ing are  written  for  and  suited  to  very  young  chil- 
dren, who  are  just  beginning  to  read.  Others  are 
suited  only  to  adults  and  those  in  Bible  classes. 
Others  are  suited  chiefly  to  youth  of  ten  or  twelve 
years  of  age.  Then,  again,  some  books  are  large, 
costing  from  a  dollar  to  a  dollar  and  a  half  or  more. 
Others  are  small,  costing  perhaps  only  fifty  to  sixty 
cents  or  less.  Scholars  always  choose  large  books. 
A  big  book  pleases  the  child's  vanity,  and  besides 
it  gives  him  more  reading.  But  it  is  not  always 
practicable  to  indulge  the  scholars  in  this  whim.  If 
two  hundred  volumes  are  needed  to  go  round  the 
school,  and  there  are  but  one  hundred  or  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  dollars  to  spend,  the  purchase  must 
include  some  small  volumes.  The  committee,  there- 
fore, should  look  over  the  school  and  make  an  ap- 
proximate   estimate    of    the   proportion    of    books 


288        THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL  LIBRARY, 

needed  of  the  different  sizes  and  for  the  different 
ages. 

Having  gone  through  this  preliminary  work,  the 
committee  should  next  agree  among  themselves 
upon  some  principles  of  rejection  and  selection.  It 
w^ould  be  well,  I  think,  and  save  time  as  well  as 
trouble,  to  reduce  to  writing  the  rules  which  are  to 
govern  the  members,  of  the  committee  in  making 
their  decision,  and  each  member  should  have  a  copy 
before  him  while  reading.  Of  course,  it  is  not 
necessary  that  these  rules  should  be  very  elaborate. 
Something  very  simple  and  concise,  like  those  which 
follow,  might  answer  the  purpose.  It  is  agreed,  for 
instance,  to  buy — 

1.  No  book  that  is  carelessly  written. 

2.  No  book  that  is  weak  and  trashy  in  substance. 

3.  No  book  that  contains  erroneous  doctrines. 

4.  No  book  that  recommends  or  countenances 
what  is  of  doubtful  propriety. 

5.  No  book  that  is  dull  and  prosy. 

6.  No  book  that  is  above  the  comprehension  of 
the  scholars. 

7.  No  book  that  requires  coaxing  to  induce  the 
scholars  to  read  it. 

8.  No  book  the  interest  of  which  depends  in  any 
considerable  degree  on  love  and  matrimony. 

9.  No  book  that  Is  not  distinctly  religious. 

10.  No  book  whose  religious  teachings  are  not 
scriptural. 

I  give  these,  not  as  exhausting  the  subject,  but  as 


THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL  LIBRARY.        289 

specimens  to  show  the  way  of  getting  at  something 
tangible. 

But  suppose  the  committee  organized,  and  the 
rules  for  the  selection  of  the  books  adopted,  what  is 
the  next  step?  Shall  we  go  indiscriminately  into  a 
market  containing  seven  thousand  different  books, 
and  try  them  all? 

Fortunately,  such  an  impracticable  plan  is  not 
necessary.  The  main  part  of  this  most  difficult 
work  is  done  to  our  hands.  There  are  men  engaged 
exclusively  in  this  business,  dealers  in  Sabbath- 
school  books,  having,  it  is  true,  a  pecuniary  interest 
in  the  matter,  but  yet  conscientious,  upright,  God- 
fearing men,  who  are,  furthermore,  pledged  to  an 
honest  endeavor  in  this  matter  by  the  fact  that  the 
success  of  their  business  as  dealers  depends  upon 
their  selling  only  books  of  the  very  best  and  most 
unexceptionable  character — men  who  make  the  se- 
lection and  sale  of  Sunday-school  books  their  main 
if  not  their  sole  business,  and  who  pledge  themselves 
before  the  public  that  they  will  keep  no  book  upon 
their  shelves  but  such  as  they  have  examined,  and 
are  prepared  from  personal  knowledge  to  recom- 
mend. The  existence  of  such  a  class  of  dealers, 
while  it  shows  the  magnitude  and  complexity  of  the 
Sunday-school  interest,  offers  also  a  practical  con- 
venience of  incalculable  value  to  purchasing  com- 
mittees. 

Such  a  committee,  having  made  all  their  prelimi- 
nary arrangements,  may  be  imagined  to  proceed  as  fol- 
25  T 


290        THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL  LIBRARY. 

lows.  Having  found  a  dealer  of  this  kind,  in  whose 
integrity,  judgment,  and  experience  in  the  business 
they  have  some  confidence,  they  send  to  him  a  co7i' 
ditional  order  for  the  number  and  amount  of  books 
wanted,  the  condition  being  that  any  books  may  be 
returned  which,  on  examination,  are  not  approved  by 
the  committee. 

The  committee,  in  sending  such  an  order,  should 
send  with  it  a  catalogue  of  the  existing  library,  so 
as  to  avoid  duplicating,  and  should  describe  in  gen- 
eral terms  about  how  many  volumes  are  desired  for 
the  money,  the  proportion  of  large  and  small  vol- 
umes, of  books  for  adults  and  for  juveniles,  and  so 
forth.  There  are  dealers,  well  known,  responsible 
men,  who,  on  receiving  such  an  order,  would  be 
willing  to  bestow  the  labor  necessary  for  making  up 
a  suitable  assortment,  and  who,  for  the  sake  of  the 
custom,  would  accept  the  condition  of  taking  back 
such  of  the  books  sent  as  did  not  suit.  Such  an  ar- 
rangement as  this  would  save  the  purchasing  com- 
mittee a  vast  amount  of  labor,  and  yet  leave  them 
perfectly  independent  in  their  choice. 

Two  or  three  additional  suggestions  are  needed  to 
close  up  this  whole  subject.  First,  it  is  much  more 
important  to  a  school  to  get  books  of  the  best  cha- 
racter than  to  get  them  at  a  discount  from  the  pub- 
lishers' catalogue  prices.  A  dealer  who  bestows 
much  time  and  expense  in  examining  and  certifying 
each  particular  book  that  he  puts  into  an  invoice 
cannot  afford  at  the  same  time  to  sell  largely  under 


THE   SUNDAT-SCHOOL   LIBRARY.        291 

the  publishers'  catalogue  prices  because  the  order  hap- 
pens to  be  of  considerable  size.  Secondly,  I  would  not 
as  a  rule,  recommend  to  any  school  the  books  that 
come  put  up  in  paper  boxes  or  made-up  libraries. 
I  have  had  some  experience  in  this  sort  of  thing, 
and  found,  to  my  cost,  that  generally,  in  such  collec- 
tions, a  few  good  books  are  used  to  make  sale  for  a 
large  percentage  of  trash.  Let  each  particular 
book  that  comes  into  the  library  be  chosen  by  itself, 
on  its  own  individual  merits,  even  if  it  does  cost  a 
little  more  both  of  time  and  money  to  make  up  the 
collection.  One  hundred  volumes,  every  one  of 
which  is  a  live  book,  are  worth  more  to  any  school 
than  one  hundred  and  twenty  volumes,  forty  or  fifty 
of  which  are  just  so  much  dead  lumber  on  the 
shelves. 


PART  II. 

HOW    TO    MANAGE    THE    LIBRARY. 

The  proper  management  of  the  library  is  one  of 
those  practical  questions  which  every  superintend- 
ent has  to  meet.  The  methods  adopted  are  as  nu- 
merous almost  as  the  schools,  and  there  is  no 
method  that  I  ever  heard  of  that  does  not  involve 
some  practical  inconveniences.  I  find  inconveni- 
ences and  difficulties  in  that  which  I  mvself  recom- 


292        THE  SUNDAY-SCHOOL  LIBRARY, 

mend.  Yet  on  the  whole  it  seems  to  be  the  one  in- 
volving the  least  trouble  and  securing  the  greatest 
practical  efficiency.  I  propose  to  set  forth  briefly 
what  some  of  the  difficulties  are  and  the  ordinary 
methods  of  meeting  them,  and  then  to  explain  the 
plan  which,  after  much  experience  and  thought,  has 
secured  a  more  general  verdict  of  approval  than  any 
other. 

Difficulties  in  the  Ordina7y  Methods. 

I.  Books  Disappear.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that 
they  are  stolen,  but  through  some  leak  in  the  mode 
of  registration  and  distribution  the  librarian  loses 
track  of  them,  and  they  are  gone  past  recovery. 
Replenishing  a  library  is  in  too  many  cases  like 
pouring  water  into  a  sieve.  I  think  I  do  not  over- 
state the  fact  when  I  say  that  on  the  average  one-half 
the  books  which  are  furnished  to  Sunday-school 
libraries  are  lost.  Some  books  will  be  lost  under 
the  most  careful  management.  But,  other  things  be- 
ing equal,  that  system  is  best  which  with  the  least 
labor  and  friction  secures  the  most  complete  respon- 
sibility for  the  books  given  out  and  is  best  adapted 
to  ensure  their  safe  return. 

Some  librarians  charge  the  books  to  the  teacher, 
and  look  to  the  teacher  for  their  return.  It  is  well, 
certainly,  for  the  teacher  to  have  some  responsibility 
for  the  books  given  out  to  his  class,  as  he  comes 
more  directly  than  any  one  else  into  communication 
with  his  scholars,  and  he  has  more  than  any  one  else 


THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL   LIBRARY.       293 

the  means  of  getting  the  books  promptly  returned. 
But  teachers  change  from  time  to  time,  and  when 
they  do  not  change  they  are  often  absent.  There  is 
hardly  a  session  in  a  school  of  any  size  at  which 
some  of  the  regular  teacher?  are  not  absent.  The 
temporary  supply  of  course  knows  nothing  about  the 
books  that  were  given  out  on  the  Sunday  before.  A 
teacher  who  is  going  to  be  absent,  or  who  leaves  a 
class  entirely,  ought ^  of  course,  to  communicate  with 
his  successor  or  his  temporary  supply,  and  with  the 
superintendent,  and  to  place  in  their  hands  his  roll- 
book  and  other  memoranda  pertaining  to  the  class. 
But  teachers  are  oblivious  of  this  duty,  as  of  many 
others,  and  we  have  to  take  things  as  we  find  them, 
not  as  they  ought  to  be. 

The  librarian,  who  has  no  record  of  the  books  given 
out  except  the  name  of  the  teacher  through  whose 
hands  they  have  gone,  will  find  himself  sadly  strait- 
ened in  the  means  of  tracing  and  recovering  lost  vol- 
umes. If  this  ruinous  disappearance  of  books  is  to 
be  stopped,  each  volume  given  out  must  be  charged 
directly  to  the  scholar  who  takes  it,  and  there  must 
be  some  means  both  of  doing  this  without  much  labor 
and  also  of  knowing  at  a  glance,  when  a  scholar  ap- 
plies for  a  book,  whether  there  is  one  already  charged 
against  him.  If  in  addition  to  this  record  against 
the  scholar  there  is  one  against  the  teacher  also,  so 
much  the  better. 

2.  The  Selection  of  Books,  How,  when  and 
where  shall  the  scholars  make  their  selection  of  the 
25* 


294        2"^^   SUNDAY-SCHOOL   LIBRARY. 

books  which  they  wish  to  take  each  week  from  the 
hbrary  ? 

In  some  schools  assistant  librarians  go  round  from 
class  to  class  with  a  basket  or  tray  full  of  books,  and 
the  scholars  overhaul  the  load  and  pick  out  from  in- 
spection what  they  want,  if  perchance  there  happen 
to  be  in  the  lot  any  that  they  care  about  at  all.  The 
interruption  and  confusion  which  this  occasions,  be- 
sides its  unsatisfactory  results  in  other  respects,  make 
it  unnecessary  to  dwell  upon  it. 

A  worse  plan  still  is  for  the  teachers  to  go  to  the 
library  and  select  for  their  class  from  the  shelves. 
While  the  teacher  is  at  the  library  selecting  books 
his  class  is  running  riot.  Besides  this,  people  the 
world  over  are  careless  about  such  matters,  and  Sun- 
day-school teachers  are  no  exception  to  the  rule. 
Where  this  plan  is  adopted,  the  librarian  will  be  for- 
tunate indeed  who  has  reported  to  him  for  record 
one-half  the  books  taken  out.  The  plan  is  as  un- 
business-like  as  it  would  be  for  a  grocer  to  allow  his 
customers  to  weigh  out  and  charge  their  own  tea 
and  sugar,  or  for  a  bank  to  allow  its  depositors  to 
put  their  hands  into  the  till  and  count  out  the  change 
called  for  by  the  checks  presented  instead  of  receiv- 
ing it  from  the  hands  of  the  teller.  No  one  but  the 
librarian  should  in  any  case  take  a  book  from  the 
library.  This  should  be  the  inexorable  rule  ;  any 
other  rule  ensures  loss.  The  loss  does  not  imply 
dishonesty.  It  is  merely  the  inevitable  result  of  do- 
ing business  in  an  unbusiness-like  way. 


THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL   LIBRARY.        295 

Another  plan  having  many  features  to  commend  it 
IS  to  have  the  library  operations  conducted  at  some 
diflerent  time  from  the  session  of  the  school — say  on 
some  day  in  the  week  or  before  church  on  Sunday, 
on  that  part  of  the  day  when  the  school  is  not  in  ses- 
sion. Some  schools  which  meet  in  the  afternoon  have 
their  library  open  on  Sunday  morning  for  an  hour  be- 
fore church-time,  and  the  scholars  come  in  by  groups 
as  it  suits  their  convenience,  and  going  to  the  shelves, 
select  a  book  and  have  it  charged  to  them. 

This  plan  avoids  disturbing  the  school  with  the 
giving  in  and  taking  out  of  books  ;  but  the  scholars 
thus  collected  about  the  school-room  and  the  vesti- 
bule of  the  church  for  half  an  hour  or  an  hour  before 
service  are  apt  to  become  noisy,  and,  moreover,  the 
books  received  just  before  going  into  church  are  apt 
to  be  read  in  church  instead  of  the  children  attending 
to  the  service.  Besides  this,  if  there  is  a  proper  lack 
of  responsibility  in  the  teachers'  going  to  the  shelves 
to  make  the  selection,  the  risk  is  much  greater  in 
allowing  the  same  privilege  to  the  whole  mass  of  the 
scholars.  I  do  not  deny  that  there  is  some  advan- 
tage, in  making  a  selection  from  a  library,  to  be  able 
to  go  to  the  shelves  and  look  over  the  volumes  for 
one's  self;  but  the  evils  attending  this  mode  of  selec- 
tion, whether  made  by  teachers  or  scholars,  are  so 
many  and  great  that  I  am  persuaded  the  plan  ought 
never  to  be  adopted.  Some  method  of  selecting 
books  must  be  invented  besides  that  of  actual  inspec- 
tion of  them  on  the  shelves. 


296        THE   SUNDAT-SCHOOL  LIBRARY. 

I  do  not  deny,  also,  that  there  are  advantages  in 
having  the  Hbrary  opened  at  some  different  time 
from  the  ordinary  session  of  the  school,  but  the  dis- 
advantages on  the  other  side  greatly  preponderate. 
Among  these,  one  that  ought  never  to  be  forgotten 
is  that  in  our  schools  are  many  children,  and  those 
the  very  ones  that  we  desire  most  to  benefit,  who 
could  not  come  for  books  at  any  other  time  than 
during  the  regular  sessions — children  of  the  poor, 
children  at  service,  mission  children.  If  the  library 
is  to  be  of  the  greatest  practical  efficiency  and  value, 
its  operations  must  be  carried  on  during  the  time  of 
the  regular  session  of  the  school. 

3.  The  Interruption  of  the  Lesson.  Teachers  are 
so  much  annoyed  by  the  continual  interruptions 
from  this  source  that  they  are  disposed  at  times  to 
vote  the  whole  thing  a  nuisance.  After  the  neces- 
sary deductions  for  the  general  exercises  of  the 
school,  the  time  remaining  to  the  teacher  for  direct 
instruction  of  his  class  is  small  at  the  best,  and  it 
should  be  kept  absolutely  sacred  from  intrusion. 
Neither  secretary,  nor  librarian,  nor  superintendent, 
nor  pastor,  nor  visitor,  should  encroach  for  a  mo- 
ment, unless  on  some  special  and  most  urgent  occa- 
sion. If  the  teacher  is  to  accomplish  anything 
worthy  of  the  name,  he  needs  every  moment  of  that 
precious  time,  and  he  needs  it  without  distraction. 

How  is  it  practically  in  most  schools?  The 
teacher  begins  the  lesson,  and  has  just  succeeded  in 
getting  the  attention  of  the  class  fixed  on  some  inter- 


THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL   LIBRARY.       297 

esting  point,  when  round  comes  one  of  the  librarians 
to  collect  the  books.  Interruption  number  one. 
His  own  thoughts  and  those  of  the  scholars  are 
diverted.  The  librarian  has  to  make  some  examina- 
tion of  the  books  returned,  and  see  that  they  corre- 
spond to  the  registered  account ;  he  has  to  inquire  of 
one  and  another  for  books  not  returned,  perhaps  to 
have  a  little  chat  with  the  teacher  about  the  books 
or  something  else.  Altogether,  this  preliminary 
visit  rarely  costs  less  than  five  minutes,  besides  the 
diversion  of  thought  which  it  occasions. 

Then  comes — interruption  number  two — the  choice 
of  books.  Whether  this  choice  is  made  after  the 
librarian's  visit  or  before,  the  time  for  it  comes  out  of 
that  appropriated  to  the  teacher.  It  cannot  be  done 
during  the  singing,  or  the  prayer,  or  any  of  the  general 
exercises  of  the  school.  It  must  be  done,  if  done  in 
school,  in  the  teacher's  time,  and  it  takes  a  good 
deal  of  time.  The  scholars  have  to  talk  over  among 
themselves  the  character  of  the  different  books,  and 
to  explore  the  pages  of  the  catalogue,  and  then  they 
hesitate,  and  weigh  and  balance  the  fancied  merits 
and  demerits  of  particular  books,  and  then  they 
come  to  a  stand-still,  unable  to  decide,  until  the 
teacher  finally  goads  them  to  a  conclusion,  and  with 
minds  thoroughly  distracted,  they  once  more  resume 
the  lesson. 

Interruption  number  three  is  caused  by  the  »^e- 
livery  of  the  books.  Sometimes  the  teacher  requires 
the  books  to  be  placed  in  a  pile  at  his  seat,  and  doe* 


298       THE   SUNDAT-SCHOOL   LIBRARY. 

not  distribute  them  to  the  scholars  until  the  close  of 
the  lesson.  But  many  a  furtive  glance  at  the  coveted 
pile  shows  that  its  presence  is  a  disturbing  element. 
The  evil  is  greatly  aggravated  vvrhen,  as  is  the  usual 
custom,  the  books  are  actually  delivered  to  the 
scholars  by  the  librarian.  Every  one  is  eager  to  see 
if  the  book  brought  him  is  the  one  he  ordered,  or  if 
it  is  such  as  he  expected  it  to  be,  and  he  can  hardly 
help  peeping  into  it  to  look  at  the  pictures,  or  per- 
haps to  see  how  the  story  begins,  and  he  must  needs 
whisper  to  his  neighbor  something  about  its  contents, 
or  he  blurts  out  to  his  teacher  that  it  is  not  the  kind 
of  book  he  wanted.  Altogether,  in  many  and  many 
a  class,  the  scene  after  the  delivery  of  the  library 
books  is  a  Babel  in  miniature.  Teachers  and 
scholars  equally  are  disturbed,  excited,  not  unfre- 
quently  vexed. 

What  between  the  coming  and  going  of  the  li- 
brarians, the  collection  and  the  distribution  of  the 
books,  the  worry  of  making  the  selection^  and 
the  expressions  of  satisfaction  and  of  dissatisfaction 
at  the  result,  I  deem  it  no  exaggeration  to  say  that 
in  a  majority  of  Sunday-school  classes,  as  matters 
are  now  managed,  at  least  one-half  the  teaching- 
time  is  consumed  by  the  operations  of  the  library. 
Such  a  state  of  things  surely  calls  for  some  remedy. 

The  Plan   Proposed. 

Having  thus  shown  the  practical  difficulties  attend- 
ing the  subject,  and   the  objections  to  most  of  the 


THE   SUNDAT-SCIIOOL   LIBRARY.       299 

methods  of  management  in  actual  use,  I  shall  now 
explain  with  some  particularity  the  plan  which  on 
the  whole  seems  to  have  the  fewest  defects  and  to 
secure  the  greatest  number  of  advantages : 

I.  A  Printed  Catalogue.  A  printed  catalogue 
of  the  books  is  indispensable,  and  a  copy  of  it  should 
be  in  the  hands  of  every  member  of  the  school, 
whether  scholar  or  teacher.  Our  plan  contemplates 
that  the  selection  should  be  made  from  the  catalogue 
alone,  and  without  an  inspection  of  the  books.  It  is 
important,  therefore,  that  the  catalogue  should  be  so 
made  as  to  give  as  much  information  as  possible 
concerning  the  character  of  the  several  volumes. 

It  was  at  one  time  proposed  to  append  to  the  title 
of  each  volume  in  the  catalogue  a  brief  description 
of  the  book.  But  a  descriptive  catalogue  like  this 
was  found  to  require  a  large  amount  of  skill  and 
judgment  in  the  preparation,  and  furthermore  to  be 
very  expensive.  Instead  of  a  descriptive  catalogue, 
therefore,  I  recommend  a  classified  one.  The  books 
may  be  assorted  into  three  general  kinds,  corre- 
sponding to  three  general  kinds  of  pupils  in  every 
school.  These  we  may  for  convenience  designate 
as  the  Primary  classes,  the  Main  school  and  the 
Adult  classes.  Some  of  the  books  are  suited  to 
scholars  just  beginning  to  read.  Other  books  are 
suited  to  those  of  mature  minds — to  the  teachers  and 
the  members  of  the  adult  classes.  Others  again  are 
such  as  forni  the  main  staple  of  our  Sunday-school 
books,  and  are  suited  to  the  main  body  of  the  school. 


300        THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL   LIBRARY. 

If  the  catalogue  contains  the  titles  of  the  books  all 
alphabetically  arranged,  and  if  after  each  title  are 
appended  the  letters  /V.,  M.  or  Ad..,  to  signify  that 
the  book  is  suited  to  one  in  the  Primary,  in  the  Main 
school  or  in  the  Adult  classes,  and  if  besides  this  the 
number  of  pages  is  given,  the  scholar  has  some  con- 
siderable clue  to  guide  him  in  the  selection  of  the 
books. 

Sometimes  the  catalogue  is  printed  in  three  parts, 
with  three  separate  headings.  But  this  creates  a 
difficulty.  Whenever  additions  are  made  to  the 
library,  an  entirely  new  catalogue  would  have  to  be 
issued.  But  under  the  plan  which  I  propose  all 
that  is  necessary,  when  new  books  are  bought,  is  to 
issue  supplementary  slips. 

Some  check  is  needed  to  prevent  the  scholars 
from  losing  or  destroying  their  catalogues.  The 
best  plan  is  to  fix  a  small  price  upon  the  catalogue, 
and  require  the  scholar  who  loses  his  copy  to  pay 
for  the  extra  one. 

The  cost  of  printing  a  catalogue  such  as  I  have 
described  will  depend  upon  the  size  of  the  library 
and  the  style  of  the  catalogue. 

2.  The  Scholar's  Library  Card.  Every  scholar 
should  be  furnished  with  a  library  card,  in  which  to 
enter  the  numbers  of  the  books  selected.  Cards  of 
various  patterns  have  been  designed  for  this  purpose. 
The  form  most  convenient  is  given  on  the  next  page. 

This  contains  nine  blanks,  giving  the  opportunity 
for  nine  selections.     The  scholar  may,  if  he  chooses, 


THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL   LIBRARY,       30 1 

fill   up   the  whole   number   at    once.     If,  when    the 
card  goes  in  to  the  librarian,  the  book  first  selected 


r^ 

LIBRARY   CARD. 

is  out,  the  librarian  will  supply  the  applicant  with 
some  one  of  the  others ;  and  when  all  the  numbers 
hav^e  been  exhausted,  a  new  card  will  be  issued. 
These  cards  may  be  obtained  at  the  very  moderate 
price  of  fifty  cents  a  hundred. 

There  is  another  form  of  card  of  larger  size  con- 
taining blanks  enough  to  run  through  a  whole  year. 
The  cost  of  this  is  $1 .50  a  hundred.  The  back  of  the 
card  contains  the  necessary  directions  to  the  scholar, 
as:  (i.)  Write  in  the  spaces  on  the  other  side  of 
the  card  the  numbers  of  the  books  which  you  wish 
to  get;  those  numbers  which  you  place  first  will  be 
considered  your  first  choice.  (2.)  Leave  this  card 
with  the  librarian  as  you  enter  the  school-room  ;  do 
not  put  it  inside  your  library  book.  (3.)  You  can- 
not get  another  book  while  you  have  one  out  of  the 
library,  etc. 

3.  Register  Niunber.  Every  member  of  the 
26 


302        THE  SUNDAT-SCHOOL   LIBRARY. 

school,  whether  scholar  or  teacher,  should  have  a 
register  number,  by  which  he  should  be  known  on 
the  books  of  the  superintendent,  the  secretary  and 
the  librarian.  Number  V7  in  the  style  of  card  given 
shows  at  once  to  what  scholar  or  teacher  it  belongs. 
Only  one  person  in  the  school  has  that  number. 
An  admirable  and  most  complete  form  for  a  general 
register  has  been  prepared,  providing  for  all  possi- 
ble emergencies  and  guarding  most  effectually 
against  mistakes,  and  is  at  the  same  time  exceed- 
ingly simple  and  easily  worked. 

4.  Selection  at  Home.  The  scholar  is  expected 
to  keep  his  catalogue  at  home  and  to  make  his  selec- 
tions there.  This  is  an  essential  feature  of  the  sys- 
tem. The  catalogue  gives  him  all  the  means  for 
making  a  choice,  and  while  at  home  during  the 
week,  with  ample  leisure  for  the  purpose,  he  pre- 
pares his  card  just  as  he  prepares  his  lesson.  He 
has  the  opportunity  of  consulting  his  parents,  his 
brothers  and  sisters,  or  any  members  of  the  school 
whom  he  may  meet,  and  he  makes  his  choice  with 
the  fullest  deliberation,  instead  of  doing  it  in  the  haste 
and  confusion  of  a  brief  interval  in  school. 

5.  Returning  Cards  and  Books,  The  librarian 
or  his  assistant  has  a  table  at  the  door  of  entrance  of 
the  school-room,  and  each  scholar  on  entering  the 
school,  before  going  to  his  class,  hands  his  card  and 
his  library  book  to  the  librarian.  That  is  all  the 
scholar  has  to  do  with  the  matter  until  he  is  dismissed 
at  the  close  of  the  school. 


THE   SUNDAT-SCHOOL   LIDRART.       303 

6.  Receiving  Cards  and  Books.  At  the  close  of 
the  school  the  librarian  and  his  assistants  stand  at 
the  door  of  exit  and  give  to  each  scholar  as  he  passes 
out  the  book  selected  for  him,  and  his  card  with  it. 
The  superintendent  of  course  has  to  watch  the  op- 
eration, and  to  dismiss  the  classes  only  as  fast  as  they 
are  disposed  of  by  the  librarian.  The  plan,  how- 
ever, is  so  simple  in  its  working  that  the  books  and 
cards  can  be  given  out  as  fast  as  it  is  proper  for  a 
school  to  be  dismissed. 

By  this  plan  of  taking  in  and  giving  out  the  books 
it  will  be  seen  that  all  confusion  in  the  school  and 
interruption  of  lessons  arising  out  of  the  operations 
of  the  library  is  absolutely  excluded. 

7.  Numbering  the  Books.  Some  cheap,  con- 
venient and  effective  way  of  numbering  the  books  is 
needed,  whatever  mode  of  registration  and  distribu- 
tion is  adopted.  For  this  purpose  nothing  with  which 
I  am  acquainted  is  comparable  to  "  Geisfs  Adhesive 
Labels."  In  the  State  Normal  School  under  my 
direction,  I  am  sure  that  the  use  of  these  labels  saves 
the  institution  the  loss  of  books  to  the  value  of  two 
to  three  hundred  dollars  a  year. 

It  remains  that  I  explain 

The    Work  of  the  Librarian. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  plan  described  for  selecting, 
taking  in  and  giving  out  the  books  has  advantages 
in  itself,  without  any  reference  to  the  librarian's  work. 
Whatever  way  the  librarian  may  take  for  executing 


304        THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL   LIBRARY. 

his  difficult  task,  it  will  still  be  very  greatly  to  his 
convenience  and  to  that  of  the  teacher  that  the  books 
should  be  selected  by  the  scholars  at  their  hpmes, 
that  they  should  be  handed  in  at  the  door  on  enter- 
ing school,  and  given  out  at  the  door  on  leaving. 
This  gives  the  librarian  the  entire  time  of  the  session 
for  putting  away  the  books  returned,  getting  out  the 
books  ordered  and  making  the  necessary  records. 

The  most  time-consuming  part  of  the  whole  oper- 
ation is  that  of  the  registration,  and  for  this  a  plan 
has  been  invented  that  is  truly  marvellous  in  its  sim- 
plicity and  its  completeness.  The  plan  referred  to 
is  known  as  "  The  Check  System  Library  Regis- 
ter"  (Ray's  patent).  I  will  endeavor  to  give  my 
readers  as  clear  an  idea  of  it  as  I  can  by  a  mere 
verbal  description  : 

I.  The  Checks.  These  are  small  slips  of  tin,  of 
the  size  of  the  accompanying  engraving : 


C 


At  one  end  of  the  slip  is  a  circular  shield  with  a  num 
ber  painted  on  it,  and  near  to  where  this  shield  is 
placed  the  slip  has  a  double  bend  or  curve,  creating 
a  sort  of  shoulder,  and  giving  the   slip,  when  seen 
edgewise,  this  appearance  : 

\ 


THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL  LIBRARY.       305 

The  tin  slip,  or  check,  as  it  is  called,  is  to  be  inserted 
at  the  top  of  the  book,  between  the  leaves,  in  this 
manner : 


and  the  object  of  the  shoulder  is  to  prevent  the  check 
from  slipping  dow^n  too  far  and  to  keep  the  number 
up  full  in  sight. 

The  librarian  needs  as  many  checks  as  there  are 
volumes  in  the  library.  The  checks  are  numbered 
from  1  up,  to  correspond  to  the  number  of  the  books. 
Each  book  when  placed  in  the  shelf  has  its  check 
inserted  in  the  top,  as  above. 

2.  The  Register.  This  is  something  like  a  big 
portfolio,  each  of  the  pages  being  divided  into  five 
rows  of  twelve  compartments  each,  making  sixty  to 
a  page.  The  cut  on  the  following  page  represents  a 
section  of  a  single  page  of  the  Register. 

Each  compartment  is  numbered,  and  represents 
one  scholar  or  teacher.  Compartment  No.  17,  for  in- 
stance, belongs  to  scholar  or  teacher  No.  17,  and  so 
of  the  others.  The  Register  is  made  with  two,  four 
and  six  pages,  according  to  the  size  of  the  school. 
26*  U 


3o6        THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL  LIBRARY. 


Section  of  the  Library  Register, 


18  

■        Illlllllltlll 


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THE   SUNDAT-SCHOOL   LI  BR  ART.       307 


Here  is  a  single  compartment  of  the  actual  size 
used  in  the  Register : 


17 


•    1 

x_ 

2 

1 

1 

l^ 

J^ 

1 

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&_ 

l_ 

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\— 

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The  perpendicular  lines  divide  it  into  twelve  spaces, 
one  for  each  month  in  the  year.  The  horizontal 
lines  divide  it  into  five  spaces,  that  being  the  greatest 
number  of  Sundays  that  ever  occur  in  one  month. 
There  are  blank  spaces,  therefore,  for  every  Sunda^ 
in  the  year.  On  the  right  margin  is  a  slit  for  insert- 
ing the  flat  part  of  the  check. 

This  slit  forms  a  very  important  part  in  the  econ- 
omy of  the  business.  It  is  the  means  by  which  the 
librarian  charges  a  book  or  cancels  a  charge..  If 
pupil  or  teacher  No.  17,  for  instance,  has  called  for 
book  No.  35,  the  librarian,  on  finding  said  book, 
takes  the  check  from  the  volume  and  slips  it  into  the 
slit,  as  in  the  figure.  There  it  remains  as  a  charge 
against  the  representative  of  that  compartment. 
When  scholar  or  teacher  No.  17  returns  the  book, 
all  the  librarian  has  to  do  in  order  to  cancel  the 
charge  is  to  take  the  check  out  of  the  slit,  put  it  into 
the  book,  and  put  the  book  back  into  the  library. 


3o8        THE  SUNDAT-SCHOOL  LIBRARY, 

The  whole  thing  is  the  work  of  a  moment,  and  it 
requires  the  use  of  neither  pen  nor  pencil.  Besides 
this,  it  enables  the  librarian  to  see  at  a  glance 
whether  the  applicant,  No.  17,  has  or  has  not  a  book 
charged  to  him,  and  so  to  carry  out  with  entire  ease 
the  important  rule  of  giving  no  one  a  new  book 
until  the  old  one  is  returned. 

The  object  of  the  blank  spaces  is  this :  When  the 
librarian  finds  that  a  particular  scholar  is  irregular 
in  his  attendance,  or  negligent  about  returning  his 
books,  it  is  sometimes  important  to  record  the  time 
when  a  book  is  given  out.  In  such  a  case,  all  the 
librarian  has  to  do  is  to  draw  an  oblique  line  through 
the  appropriate  space.  Thus  in  the  figure  it  is  shown 
that  No.  17  not  only  has  out  book  No.  35,  but  that 
he  took  it  out  on  the  third  Sunday  in  July.  This 
particularity  of  date  helps  sometimes  in  the  recovery 
of  a  missing  volume.  When  a  book  thus  doubly 
charged  is  returned  to  the  library,  the  librarian  not 
only  removes  the  check  (which  cancels  the  general 
charge),  but  also  draws  a  slant  line  across  the  other 
in  the  opposite  direction  ;  or,  if  the  line  is  made  with 
a  lead  pencil,  he  may  erase  it  with  a  rubber. 

Some  librarians  enter  the  date  in  all  cases,  but 
this  is  not  recommended. 

Now,  let  us  see  what  the  librarian  has  to  do  : 

1.  The  books  and  the  library  cards  are  collected 
at  the  door  at  the  opening  of  the  school. 

2.  The  books  being  brought  to  the  library  table, 
he  takes  up  one  volume  at  a  time,  looks  at  its  num- 


THE  SUNDAY-SCHOOL   LIBRARY.       309 

ber,  and  then  at  his  Register,  to  see  against  whom 
(or  rather  against  what  number)  it  is  charged  ;  re- 
moves the  check  from  the  Register,  puts  it  into  the 
book,  and  puts  the  book  in  its  place  in  the  library. 
So  he  goes  on,  book  after  book,  until  all  the  books 
brought  in  are  disposed  of. 

3.  Next,  he  takes  up  a  library  card  ;  sees  what 
volumes  are  ordered  on  it ;  selects  one  of  them  (the 
first  that  happens  to  be  in)  ;  takes  the  check  from 
the  book  and  puts  it  into  the  appropriate  slit  in  the 
Register,  and  puts  the  library  card  into  the  book 
with  the  number  of  the  applicant  sticking  out  at  one 
end,  to  show  to  whom  the  book  and  card  are  to  be 
given.     Thus : 


He  proceeds  in  this  wa\-,  card  after  card,  until  all 
the  orders  are  executed. 

4.  The  books  thus  selected  are  then  assorted  into 
heaps  for  delivery,  each  heap  representing  a  class. 

5..  The  heaps  are  taken  to  the  table  or  shelf  at  the 
door,  and  finally  the  books  are  handed  by  the 
librarian  and  his  assistants  to  the  individual  scholars 
as  they  pass  out. 

It  has  taken  a  good  many  words  to  explain  this  pro- 
cess, but  the  process  itself  is  one  of  the  simplest  and 
least  embarrassing  that  it  is  possible  to  conceive. 


^^;^MVi 


CHAPTER    VIT. 

RELATIONS   OF  THE   SUNDAY-SCHOOL    TO 
OTHER  RELIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS. 


HAVE  failed  entirely  in  my  purpose  if  I 
have  not,  in  a  great  variety  of  v^^ays,  made 
known  my  opinion  that  the  Sunday-school 
is  not  an  institution  standing  by  itself.  On  the  con- 
trary, according  to  the  view  of  it  advocated  in  these 
pages,  it  has  numerous  most  important,  some  of 
them  organic,  relations  with  the  other  leading  insti- 
tutions of  religion.  Some  of  these  relations  will 
occupy  the  present  chapter. 

I.    The  Sunday-school  and  the    Church. 

The  Sunday-school  could  have  no  more  danger- 
ous enemy  than  one  who  should  persuade  its  friends 
that  they  were  or  could  be  in  any  way  antagonistic 
to  the  church.  Who  support,  cherish,  establish  and 
keep  alive  the  Sunday-school?  The  church.  Who 
are  its  superintendents  and  teachers?  The  members 
of  the  church.  Where  is  the  school  ordinaiMly  held? 
In  the  church,  or  in  some  building  belonging  to  the 

310 


RELATIONS   OF  THE  SUNDAY-SCHOOL.     311 

church.  Whence  does  it  take  its  name?  From  the 
church  to  which  it  belongs.  It  is  the  school  of  the 
Tabernacle  Baptist,  of  the  Epiphany,  of  the  Tenth 
Presbyterian,  of  the  Green  Street  Methodist,  or  of 
some  other  church.  A  school  is  considered  and 
spoken  of  as  belonging  to  some  particular  churcli, 
just  as  a  boy  or  a  girl  Js  thought  of  as  having  a 
father  and  mother  and  as  belonging  to  some  par- 
ticular family.  There  are  indeed  orphan  children 
and  street  children  not  thus  blessed,  for  whom 
public  philanthropy  must  in  some  way  provide. 
But  these  are  the  exceptions.  So  there  are  schools 
in  out-of-the-way  places,  where  there  is  no  one 
church  to  care  for  them  or  own  them,  and  they  must 
be  cared  for,  if  at  all,  by  godly  men  and  women  of 
various  denominations  uniting  in  the  good  work. 
These  are  the  union  schools  of  frontier  regions. 
Some  of  the  mission-schools  of  our  cities  are  of  the 
same  character.  But  even  these  soon  cease  to  be 
orphans,  being  adopted  by  some  church,  and  thus 
brought  into  the  family  relation.  Go  through  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  land,  and  nine-tenths  of 
all  the  Sunday-schools  to  be  found  are  the  schools 
of  some  particular  church.  The  proportion  of 
schools  which  hold  no  such  relation,  which  are  in- 
dependent organizations,  is  smaller  than  the  propor- 
tion of  children  in  the  community  who  have  no 
parents  of  their  own  to  look  to. 

The  Sunday-school  is  the  child  of  the  church.      It 
springs    from    the    church      It    is    only  one    of  the 


312  RELATIONS    TO    OTHER 

church's  modes  of  acting,  in  evangelizing  the  world. 
The  church,  in  endeavoring  to  carry  out  the  Master's 
command  to  indoctrinate  society  with  the  precepts 
of  the  gospel,  takes  this  among  other  modes  of  doing 
it.  It  proclaims  the  gospel  from  its  pulpits.  It 
draws  the  reins  of  parental  responsibility,  thus  prop- 
agating religious  truths  by  means  of  the  family  or- 
ganization. It  sends  forth  Bibles,  tracts  and  books, 
to  reach  those  not  touched  by  the  pulpit  or  the  family. 
It  gathers  the  young  into  Sunday-schools,  still  further 
to  supplement  the  teaching  given  by  other  means. 

The  church  with  all  her  efforts  is  unable  to  secure, 
even  from  godly  parents,  the  amount  of  religious  in- 
struction which  their  children  require.  Then  there 
are  the  countless  numbers  of  children  whose  parents 
are  indifferent  and  irreligious.  The  church  feels, 
therefore,  that  she  has  need  of  every  legitimate 
means,  and  that  she  must  push  them  to  the  utmost 
if  she  would  fully  execute  her  trust  in  the  work  of 
evangelizing  society.  The  church  does  not  regard 
the  Sunday-school  as  antagonistic  to  parental  and 
family  instruction,  any  more  than  a  general  would 
regard  his  cavalry  or  his  artillery  as  antagonistic  to 
his  infantry.  All  means  are  needed  in  this  great 
work, 

I  have  yet  to  see  the  first  Sunday-school  teacher 
who  is  not  delighted  when  he  finds  parents  giving 
their  children  instruction  in  addition  to  that  received 
at  the  school.  I  have  yet  to  see  the  first  teacher 
whose  heart  does  not  bound  with  joy  on  seeing  his 


RELIGIOUS   INSTITUTIONS.  313 

pastor  and  elders  and  other  officers  of  the  church 
taking  hold  of  the  school,  mingling  actively  and  effi- 
ciently in  its  affairs,  and  showing  that  they  consider 
it  as  theirs. 

Whenever  I  see  any  one  working  himself  up  into 
a  suspicion  that  the  Sunday-school  is  a  something 
that  is  going  to  override  or  supersede  the  church,  or 
arming  himself  with  ecclesiastical  legislation  against 
it  as  against  an  enemy  that  needs  bridling,  I  cannot 
but  feel  that  the  wiser  course  for  such  a  person  would 
be  to  enter  into  the  cause  itself  with  a  little  warmer 
sympathy. 

Persons  holding  opinions  of  this  kind,  I  am  happy 
to  believe,  are  much  fewer  now  than  they  were  some 
years  ago.  A  healthy  sentiment  has  been  awakened 
in  the  public  mind  in  regard  to  the  true  relation  of  the 
Sunday-school  to  the  church.  There  was  at  one 
time  not  exactly  a  definite  theory,  but  a  vague,  im- 
defined  feeling,  that  the  Sunday-school  was  an  insti- 
tution by  itself,  like  a  temperance  society  or  a  hos- 
pital. As  the  institution  has  grown  in  importance 
and  efficiency,  a  clearer  apprehension  has  arisen  in 
the  minds  of  Christian  people  in  regard  to  its  true 
position.  There  are  few  thoughtful  Christians  now 
who  do  not  recognize  the  Sunday-school  as  one  of 
the  agencies  of  the  church,  and  who  do  not  theoret- 
ically hold  the  church  responsible  for  maintaining 
such  an  agency.  A  church  that  did  not  maintain  a 
Sunday-school  would  be  in  the  popular  estimation 
almost  as  great  an  anomaly  as  a  church  that  did  not 

27 


SH  RELATIONS    TO    OTHER 

maintain  public  worship.  At  the  same  time  there  is 
in  some  of  our  largest  and  most  influential  denomi- 
nations a  want  of  definite,  official  action  on  this  sub- 
ject, which  is  withholding  from  the  institution  its 
most  natural  and  powerful  means  of  growth  and 
efficiency. 

Why  should  a  cause  of  such  vital  importance  be 
left  at  such  loose  ends?  Is  the  religious  training  of 
its  youth  a  matter  to  be  left  to  casual  impulse  or  to 
individual  caprice?  Has  not  the  Sunday-school  a 
right  to  a  place  in  the  ordinary  business  of  ecclesi- 
astical assemblies  as  much  as  has  the  theological 
seminary,  the  education  of  ministers,  church  exten- 
sion, domestic  missions  or  foreign  missions? 

What  I  urge  upon  ecclesiastical  bodies  is  that  they 
take  some  action  which  shall  make  the  consideration 
of  the  Sunday-school  interest  a  part  of  the  standing 
order  of  business,  both  for  the  supreme  judicatory 
itself  and  for  all  the  subordinate  church  courts  for 
which  it  legislates,  in  regular  succession,  down 
through  Synods,  Presbyteries,  Sessions,  Consistories, 
Vestries,  and  so  forth.  Only  let  it  once  be  estab- 
lished that  Sunday-school  operations  are  a  part  of 
the  church  doings  which  are  to  be  reported  for  re- 
view by  the  appointed  church  authorities,  and  a 
great  point  will  be  gained  both  in  checking  irregu- 
larities and  extravagances  on  the  one  side,  and  on 
the  other  side  in  giving  strength,  solidity  and  com- 
prehensiveness to  the  whole  system. 

It  is  not  far  to  go  to  find  topics  which  in  the  pres- 


RELIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS.  315 

ent  aspect  of  the  Sunday-school  movement  require 
grave  consideration  at  the  hands  of  the  ablest  and 
wisest  men  of  every  church.  The  enormous — it  is 
not  too  strong  to  say,  the  appalling — multiplication 
of  Sunday-school  library  books  is  one  of  these  topics. 
Four  or  five  millions  of  these  little  volumes  are  taken 
home  and  greedily  devoured  every  week.  How 
much  of  this  reading  is  beneficial,  and  how  much  of 
it  is  debauching?  Is  not  the  question  one  of  as  much 
interest  as  whether  Turrettin  still  holds  its  place  in 
didactic  theology?  Should  the  temperance  question 
and  temperance  organizations  and  pledges  enter  into 
the  Sunday-school  movement?  Should  the  Sunday- 
school  be  made  the  nucleus  for  missionary  collec- 
tions? and  if  so,  for  what  purposes?  Should  the 
training  of  youth  to  the  habit  of  giving  and  the  in- 
struction of  them  in  regard  to  the  objects  on  which 
to  bestow  their  benefactions  be  left  entirely  to  chance 
or  to  the  smartness  of  enterprising  and  often  irre- 
sponsible agents  ?  or  should  this  whole  subject  be  un- 
der some  wise  and  responsible  guidance  from  the 
recognized  authorities  of  the  church?  How  may 
we  secure  more  complete  agd  reliable  Sunday-school 
statistics?  Ought  not  the  annual  returns  from 
churches  atid  parishes  to  embrace  a  column  devoted 
to  this  subject,  showing  the  number  of  scholars, 
teachers,  conversions,  etc.  ? 

The  Methodist  denomination  a  few  years  ago 
took  the  right  ground  on  this  subject,  making  the 
Sunday-school  operations  of  their  churches  the  ob- 


3i6  RELATIONS    TO   OTHER 

ject  of  systematic  ecclesiastical  supervision  and  con- 
trol, and  they  are  reaping  the  benefit  of  this  course 
in  the  greatly  accelerated  growth  of  their  schools. 

Bishop  Stevens,  of  the  Episcopal  church  in  Penn 
sylvania,  in  his  charge  to  the  clergy  of  his  diocese 
some  years  ago,  said  :  "  It  is  the  duty  of  the  minister 
to  put  himself  at  the  head  of  his  [Sunday]  school ; 
not,  indeed,  as  its  superintendent — that  perhaps  had 
better  be  a  lay  person — but  he  should  be  its  control- 
ling and  governing  power.  He  should  select  his  su- 
perintendent and  teachers,  should  direct  the  studies 
and  the  school  with  all  the  appliances  necessary  for 
its  largest  usefulness." 

The  Presbyterian  General  Assembly  (New  School), 
before  the  late  re-union,  in  a  report  on  Sunday-schools, 
used  the  following  language  : 

"  The  danger  is  that  the  Sabbath-school  may  be- 
come detached  from  its  proper  connection  with  the 
church  and  its  authorities,  and  assume  an  independ- 
ence which  must  prove  in  the  end  injurious  both  to 
itself  and  the  church. 

"  This  severance  has,  we  learn,  actually  taken 
place  in  some  instances,  and  the  proper  shepherd  of 
the  flock  can  appear  before  the  lambs  only  by  the  suf- 
ferance of  the  superintendent ;  and  so  the  young,  cut 
off  from  their  appointed  guardians,  are  exposed  to 
influences  which  cannot  be  brought  under  proper 
supervision  and  control." 

In  accordance  with  this  report  the  Assembly  passed 
a  resolution  in  these  words  :  "  That  it  belongs  em- 


RELIGIOUS   INSTITUTIONS.  3^7 

phatically  to  the  pastor  and  elders  of  each  congrega- 
tion to  direct  and  supervise  the  whole  work  of  the 
spiritual  training  of  the  young,  and  that  it  is  an  im- 
portant part  of  the  functions  of  their  office  both  to 
encourage  parents  to  fidelity  in  bringing  up  their 
children  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the  Lord, 
and  also  to  secure  the  co-operation  of  all  the  compe- 
tent members  of  the  church  in  the  religious  educa- 
tion of  all  the  children  and  youth  to  whom  they  can 
gain  access." 

The  Presbyterian  Publication  Committee  (New 
School)  also  issued  a  tract  on  this  subject,  in  which 
the  relations  of  the  Sundaj^-school  to  the  church  are 
set  forth  with  clearness  and  force,  and  are  placed  on 
precisely  the  same  ground  as  that  which  I  have  here 
advocated. 

The  united  body  signalized  their  happy  reunion 
by  some  judicious  action  on  this  subject.  The 
matter  was  brought  forward  under  the  auspices  of 
Dr.  McCosh,  and  after  some  opposition  and  an 
earnest  debate  resulted  in  the  adoption  of  the  follow- 
ing resolution  : 

"  That  the  Board  [of  Publication]  at  as  early  a 
date  as  possible  consider  the  propriety  of  establish- 
ing a  Department  of  Subbath-schools^  v/hose  office 
it  shall  be  to  promote  the  number  and  efficiency  of 
Sabbath-schools  throughout  the  congregations  of  the 
Presbyterian  church." 

I  congratulate  this  great  re-united  church  on  the 
important  movement  thus  auspiciously  begun.  The 
27* 


3l8  RELATIONS    TO    OTHER 

resolution  of  the  Assembly,  it  is  true,  is  not  impera- 
tive, but  only  recommendatory.  Yet  so  decided  a 
recommendation  will  hardly  go  by  unheeded.  I 
take  it  for  granted,  therefore,  that  this  great  and 
prosperous  church  will  soon  have  a  recognized  and 
responsible  agency  of  its  own,  for  giving  direction, 
life  and  system  to  this  important  part  of  its  opera 
tions,  and  that  hereafter,  in  every  church  court,  from 
the  highest  to  the  lowest,  the  Sunday-school  will 
have  its  rightful  place,  just  as  much  as  the  cause  of 
Theological  Seminaries,  and  that  of  Home  and  For- 
eign Missions. 

2.    The  Minister  and  the  Sunday-school. 

I  do  not  agree  with  Dr.  Tyng  and  some- other 
high  authorities  that  the  minister  should  be  the  act- 
ing superintendent  of  the  Sunday-school.  The 
amount  of  work  to  be  done  is  too  much,  and  it 
would  lead  in  almost  every  case  either  to  a  neglect 
of  the  school  or  to  a  lowering  of  the  standard  of  the 
pulpit  performances.  At  the  same  time,  I  most  fully 
believe  that  the  minister  should  be  the  chief  animat- 
ing soul  of  the  school.  The  superintendent  should 
be  his  right-hand  man,  his  counsellor  and  co-worker 
in  all  his  plans  for  sowing  the  seed  in  the  hearts  of 
the  young  of  his  charge.  The  minister  should  spend 
some  time — not  less  certainly  than  half  an  hour — in 
his  school  every  Sunday.  He  should  know  all  that 
is  going  on  in  it.  He  should  know  every  teacher 
and  every  scholar  by  face  and  by  name,  and  what 


RELIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS.  319 

influences  are  at  work  in  each  department  and  in 
everj  class,  and  he  should  find  the  means  to  make 
his  own  influence  felt  in  every  movement  of  the 
school.  Every  scholar  and  every  teacher  should  feel 
that  the  pastor  is  cognizant  of  his  or  her  doings  in 
the  school — not,  of  course,  by  any  system  of  espion- 
age, but  simply  by  the  fact  of  his  constant  and  per- 
vading presence.  The  school,  in  short,  should  be 
thought  of  and  spoken  of  as  his. 

Am  I  laying  upon  the  ministry  too  great  a  burden  ? 
If  an  eflicient  working  of  the  Sunday-school  brings 
two  souls  into  the  church  where  the  labors  of  the 
pulpit  bring  one,  if  the  minister's  heart,  all  aglow 
with  fire  in  the  school,  burns  thereby  with  increased 
brightness  and  intensity  in  the  pulpit,  should  not  the 
minister  consider  the  Sunday-school  a  part  of  the 
burden  that  the  Master  has  put  upon  him.f* 

Our  conventions,  our  institutes,  our  religious 
journals,  are  doing  much  for  adding  to  the  effi- 
ciency of  our  Sunday-schools.  But  our  main  hope, 
after  all,  is  in  the  ministry.  Our  Sunday-schools 
will  become  what  they  should  be,  and  will  accom- 
plish the  mighty  results  which  they  are  capable  of, 
when  our  pastors  come  fully  up  to  the  work,  and 
not  before.  Here  and  there  is  a  superintendent  who 
has  the  fitness  and  the  consecrated  talent  to  work  up 
and  mould  the  materials  of  a  congregation  so  as  to 
make  out  of  them  a  thoroughly  efficient  Sunday- 
school.  But  these  are  the  exceptions.  So  here  and 
there  is  a  teacher  thoroughly  competent  to  the  work. 


320  RELATIONS    TO   OTHER 

But  in  the  great  majority  of  cases,  all  over  the  land, 
superintendents  and  teachers  have  to  be  made.  The 
raw  material  exists  in  the  greatest  abundance  in  all 
churches.  I  never  saw  a  church  yet,  big  or  little,  in 
country  or  city,  that  did  not  contain  in  itself  the 
materials,  the  men  and  women,  capable  of  fitting 
out  a  school  with  a  first-rate  corps  of  teachers  and  a 
good  superintendent.  But  usually  these  materials 
Dear  about  the  same  relation  to  the  actual  work  that 
cotton  growing  in  the  field  bears  to  the  finished 
fabric.  The  man  who  is  to  pick  the  cotton,  gin  it. 
sort  it,  spin  it  and  weave  it  into  cloth  ready  for  use 
is  the  minister.  He  must  select  the  men  and 
women  of  his  flock  who  have  the  natural  fitness  for 
taking  care  of  the  lambs.  He  must  enlist  their 
sympathies  in  the  work,  and  know  how  to  counsel 
and  direct  them  in  it.  He  is  not  to  do  the  work  of 
the  school  himself,  but  he  should  be  the  animating 
spirit  of  those  who  do  it.  To  do  all  this  he  must, 
however,  be  himself  practically  familiar  with  it.  A 
housekeeper  who  has  made  bread  herself  can  train 
a  domestic  to  make  bread.  A  farmer  who  has  him- 
self sown  and  tilled  the  field  can  train  his  boys  to 
do  it.  A  master  mechanic  whose  own  fingers 
know  how  to  wield  the  tools  of  his  craft  can  alone 
make  other  craftsmen. 

In  all  our  congregations  are  the  materials,  the 
men  and  women,  in  abundance  ;  but  who  shall  con- 
vert them  into  teachers.?  This  is  the  one  deside- 
ratum for  making  schools. 


RELIGIOUS   INSTITUTIONS.  321 

Some  congregations,  here  and  there,  are  blessed 
witli  a  man,  a  hiyman,  whose  education,  training, 
talents,  choice  and  actual  experience  mark  him  out 
for  til  is  service.  These,  however,  are  the  exceptions. 
But  in  every  church  where  there  is  a  settled  pastor 
there  is  07ie  man  whose  office  ought  to  include  this 
idea,  just  as  much  as  that  of  preaching  sermons. 

The  minister  ought  to  be  an  expert  in  Sunday- 
school  matters.  He  ought  to  be  what  the  graduates 
of  a  military  school  are  to  unskilled  volunteers  at  the 
outbreak  of  a  war ;  and  if  ever  the  noble  four  hun- 
dred thousand  willing  workers  now  engaged  in  the 
American  Sunday-school  become  a  conquering  army 
in  the  Master's  service,  it  must  be  by  an  adequate 
infusion  of  experts  into  the  mass  to  organize  and 
guide  them  to  victory. 

Our  military  schools  are  the  theological  semi- 
naries. Our  young  ministers  must  be  trained  to  the 
Sunday-school  work  as  well  as  to  the  business  of 
writing  sermons. 

Some  of  our  writers  seem  to  be  under  the  appre- 
hension that  the  Sunday-school  work  is  in  danger 
from  the  interference  of  ministers.  They  speak  of 
it  as  a  work  peculiar  to  laymen — one  in  which  cler- 
ical interposition  would  be  a  sort  of  intrusion  and 
impertinence.  Such  notions  are  utterly  alien  to  every 
idea  that  I  have  formed  of  this  work.  If  at  times 
I  have  been  disposed  to  utter  a  sharp  criticism  upon 
ministers  in  regard  to  the  Sunday-school  woiJ<,  it  has 
been  for  their  indifference,  not  for  over-interference. 
V 


322  RELATIONS    TO    OTHER 

I  have  known  pastors — not  many,  but  here  and  there 
one — who  did  not  seem  to  realize  the  immense  power 
of  the  institution  for  carrying  out  their  appropriate 
work,  and  who  practically  stood  aloof  from  it. 
There  are  perhaps  no  ministers  who  would  be  will- 
ing to  admit  that  they  stand  in  this  position.  But 
they  do  not  throw  themselves  heartily  into  the  move- 
ment ;  they  catch  no  inspiration  from  it ;  they  give 
no  inspiration  to  it,  any  more  than  they  would  do  in 
regard  to  any  ordinary  philanthropic  enterprise. 
They  look  on  with  approbation,  and  even  with  some 
degree  of  interest,  but  it  is  as  spectators  rather  than 
as  actors.  When  I  have  seen,  such  a  pastor  I  have 
felt  at  times  like  stirring  him  up,  and,  if  necessary, 
with  sharp  words. 

I  do  not  think  it  desirable,  ordinarily,  as  I  have 
said  before,  for  the  pastor  to  superintend  the  Sunday- 
school.  There  is  not  one  minister  in  a  thousand  that 
has  the  physical  strength  to  do  so.  A  man  needs  to 
go  into  the  pulpit  with  his  energies  fresh  and  in  full 
vigor.  If  he  rises  to  preach  after  exhausting  himself 
mentally  and  bodily  in  the  school-room,  and  with 
his  voice  husky  b}^  use,  he  would  be  doing  a  serious 
wrong.  But  he  cannot  by  any  possibility  be  an  in- 
truder in  the  Sunday-school  any  more  than  he  could 
be  in  the  prayer-meeting  or  the  lecture-room.  There 
is  no  one  whom  superintendent,  teachers  and  schol- 
ars so  universally  delight  to  see  in  the  school-room 
as  the  minister.  The  minister  neglects  an  important 
duty  and  misses  a  great  privilege  who  does  not  visit 


RELIGIOUS   INSTITUTIONS.  323 

his  Sunday-school  habitually,  and,  if  possible,  every 
Sunday,  who  does  not  keep  himself  thoroughly  ac- 
quainted with  what  is  going  on  there,  and  who  aoes 
not  promptly  interpose,  if  need  be,  to  correct  or  pre- 
vent abuses.  The  Sunday-school  is  not  something 
outside  of  or  apart  from  the  church  ;  it  is  the  church 
itself.  It  is  one  of  the  ways  in  which  the  church  is 
putting  forth  its  spiritual  life  and  fulfilling  its  divine 
mission.  It  is  the  creature  of  the  church,  and  should 
oe  under  the  control  of  the  church  as  much  ?.s  the 
weekly  prayer-meeting. 

It  is  one  of  the  best  features  of  the  Sunday-school 
work  tha^  all  classes  can  engage  in  it.  More  than 
any  other  operation  in  which  the  church  is  engaged 
it  enlists  laymen.  It  furnishes  a  field  in  which  every 
one  may  find  something  to  do  for  the  Master.  But 
there  is  no  motive  or  warrant  for  a  layman  to  work 
in  the  Sunday-school  which  does  not  apply  with 
equal  and  even  greater  force  to  a  minister.  Who,  if 
not  the  minister,  is  interested  in  the  religious  training 
of  the  young .^  Who,  if  not  the  minister,  is  under 
obligation  to  see  tliat  the  lambs  of  the  flock  are  cared 
for.? 

No  pastor  who  is  wise  will  meddle  with  the  small 
details  of  the  school-room.  If  a  superintendent  is  to 
get  along  comfortably  and  efficiently,  he  needs  to 
enjoy  largely  the  confidence  of  those  above  him  as 
well  as  of  those  below  him.  But  then  the  superin- 
tendent should  not  shrink  from  recognizing  the  fact 
that   there  are  those  above  him  ;   any  other   theory 


324  RELATIONS    TO    OTHER 

than  this  will  lead  to  inevitable  confusion  and  dis- 
order in  our  Sunday-school  affairs.  We  cannot 
safely  have  an  impei'iuin  in  itnperio  in  religious  any 
more  than  in  civil  matters.  In  each  particular 
church  there  must  be  one  general  centre  of  authority, 
whether  pastor,  session,  consistory  or  congregation. 
Whatever  that  power  is  which  controls  the  teachings 
of  the  pulpit  and  the  exercises  of  public  worship  in 
the  church,  the  lecture-room  and  the  prayer-meeting, 
it  ought  to  and  must  in  the  last  resort  have  the  control 
of  the  Sunday-school  also.  To  set  up  the  Sunday- 
school  as  an  independent  and  self-existent  organiza- 
tion is  simply  monstrous. 

3.  The  Sunday-scJiool  and  Parental  Responsibility. 

In  the  agitation  of  the  Sunday-school  cause  and  of 
the  duties  of  pastors  and  teachers  to  the  children, 
there  is  some  danger  of  forgetting  entirely  the  exist- 
ence of  parents.  I  would  go  as  far  as  almost  any 
one  in  urging  upon  the  church  the  duty  of  looking 
after  the  religious  interests  of  the  young.  Just  so  far 
as  a  man  is  a  Christian  at  all  will  he  seek  to  promote 
Christ's  cause,  and  one  of  the  most  efficient  ways  of 
promoting  that  cause  is  to  indoctrinate  youth  in  the 
principles  of  religion.  This  is  a  plain,  direct,  con- 
clusive argument  for  Sunday-schools,  and  for  the 
duty  of  the  church  as  such,  and  of  every  individual 
member  of  the  church  to  support  the  institution.  A 
church  is  guilty  which  allows  any  child  to  grow  up 
in  irreligion  whom  it  has  the  means  of  reaching  and 


RELIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS.  325 

reclaiming.     What  is  true  of  a  church  is  true  of  its 
members  iiuhvidually. 

But  this  rcspoiisibihty  of  the  cliurch  to  look  after 
a  cliild  by  no  means  relieves  the  parents  from  respon- 
sibility in  regard  to  the  same  child.  If  the  child  is 
lost  and  God  holds  the  church  guilty  for  the  loss,  it 
does  not  follow  that  he  will  hold  the  parent  guiltless. 
It  is  a  case  of  double  responsibility  for  the  same  ob- 
ject. The  object — the  salvation  of  the  child — is  so 
important  that  God  would  put  it  under  double  guard. 
It  is  like  taking  two  endorsers  to  a  note  ;  the  failure 
of  one  endorser  does  not  exonerate  the  other.  The 
holder  has  his  remedy  equally  against  both,  and  thus 
the  fulfilment  of  the  obligation  is  better  secured. 

The  duties  of  teachers  to  the  children  are  the  theme 
of  constant  discussion  and  illustration.  I  would  not 
have  it  otherwise.  But  let  us  not  ignore  the  fact  that 
parents  have  even  a  greater  stake  than  teachers  have 
in  the  same  issue.  The  relations  of  the  teacher  to 
the  matter  are  only  inferential  and  secondary  ;  those 
of  the  parent  are  primary  and  paramount.  No  duty 
of  one  human  being  to  another  is  more  direct,  posi- 
tive and  intransferable  than  that  of  a  parent  to  edu- 
cate his  child  religiously  as  well  as  intellectually. 
The  mistake  that  many  parents  make  practically, 
and  that  we  are  all  in  danger  of  making  theoretically, 
is  in  supposing  that  this  duty  can  be  delegated. 
Some  portions  of  a  child's  education  can  be  given 
by  strangers,  but  other,  and^  by  far  the  most  import- 
ant portions,  can  be  given  only  by  the  parent.  If 
28 


326  RELATIONS    TO    OTHER 

the  home  education  of  a  child  is  deficient,  the  school, 
with  all  its  means  and  appliances,  will  never  educate 
him.  He  may  be  taught  many  things,  but  his  edu- 
cation can  never  be  complete. 

Just  here  it  is  that  parents  otherwise  judicious 
and  thoughtful  make  a  mistake.  They  think  that 
if  they  secure  for  their  child  a  good  school,  their 
duty  in  the  matter  is  ended.  Business  men,  mer- 
chants, often  make  this  mistake.  They  cannot  spare 
time  from  their  business  to  look  after  their  children. 
They  will  pay  liberally  for  a  good  teacher,  but, 
having  done  that,  they  expect  the  teacher  to  relieve 
them  from  all  further  care  in  the  matter.  Hundreds 
and  hundreds  of  times,  in  my  professional  labors, 
have  I  encountered  this  fact.  A  laboring  man  sends 
his  child  to  a  good  public  school,  and  because  it  is  a 
good  school  he  is  disappointed  if  his  child  does  not 
turn  out  well.  A  man  of  wealth  pays  his  hundreds 
to  a  private  teacher,  and  he  is  vexed  to  find  that  his 
boy  does  not  become  a  pattern  of  all  that  the  cir- 
cular holds  out.  The  poor  man  has  his  daily  labor 
to  attend  to,  and  he  thinks  he  has  no  time  to  be 
troubled  with  looking  after  his  children.  The  rich 
man  has  his  business  enterprises,  that  absorb  hib 
time  and  his  thoughts,  so  that  nothing  is  left  for 
home  duties.  Rich  and  poor  alike  forget  that  a  part 
of  the  price  for  the  education  of  their  children  is  to  be 
■paid  by  perso7ial  service.  No  amount  of  money 
expenditure,  whether  from  the  public  or  the  private 
purse,  can  pay  this  debt.     The  man  who  brings  a 


liELIGIOUS   INSTITUTIONS.  327 

child  into  the  world  puts  himself  under  a  perpetual 
obligation  of  personal  service  to  that  child.  A  man 
might  as  well  expect  to  keep  himself  in  health  by 
paying  annually  a  doctor's  bill,  while  not  observing 
personally  the  laws  of  health.  A  parent  should  lay 
it  to  his  account  that  he  owes  to  his  child  a  certain 
amount  daily,  and  that  by  no  means  a  small  amount, 
of  his  time,  thoughts  and  personal  care.  The  parent 
who  ignores  or  neglects  this,  and  who  hopes  to  meet 
the  case  by  invoking  the  instrumentality  of  the  state 
or  of  the  church,  or  by  spending  freely  his  thousands 
upon  schools  and  teachers,  is  surely  laying  up  for 
himself  multiplied  sorrows. 

What  can  the  Sunday-school  teacher  do  for  a  child 
during  the  one  hour  and  a  half  on  Sunday,  if  during 
all  the  remaining  hours  and  days  of  the  week  at 
home  the  Sunday  lesson  is  quietly  ignored.''  If  the 
Sunday-school  teacher,  who  has  no  interest  in  any 
child  beyond  the  promptings  of  Christian  benevo- 
lence, is  willing  to  endure  the  labor  of  teaching  him, 
and  of  preparing  himself  for  that  teaching  by  long 
hours  of  study  during  the  week,  and  is  willing  to 
step  aside  from  his  worldly  employments  to  attend 
meetings,  Institutes  and  Normal  classes,  in  order  to 
fit  himself  for  the  task  of  givmg  my  child  skilful  re- 
ligious guidance  and  instruction,  shame  on  me  if  I 
am  not  willing  to  give  some  portion  of  my  time, 
labor  and  thought  to  the  same  end  !  Shame  on  me 
if  I  do  not  see  personally  that  my  child  goes  to 
school  thoroughly  prepared  in   his  lesson  !     Shame 


328  RELATIONS    TO    OTHER 

on  me  if  I  do  not  myself  read  and  study  and  think 
on  the  subject,  in  order  to  be  thoroughly  efficient 
and  skilful  in  the  work  of  co-operation  with  the 
teacher  of  my  child,  and  if  I  do  not  myself  attend 
meetings,  institutes  and  conventions  as  a  learner, 
that  I  may  better  know  how  to  do  my  part  in  the 
work  of  his  education  ! 

4.  Attendance  of  Children  in    Church, 

I  sympathize  fully  with  those  who  deprecate  any 
arrangement  that  tends  to  draw  away  children  from 
the  house  of  God.  The  Sunday-school  is  no  sub- 
stitute for  the  church.  Indeed,  the  greatest  argu- 
ment in  its  favor,  in  my  estimate,  has  always  been, 
that  it  brings  the  young  to  the  church.  It  is  a  feeder 
for  the  church.  If  in  any  instance  the  school  is  so 
conducted,  with  respect  to  its  teachings  or  its  ses- 
sions, or  any  of  its  arrangements,  as  to  lead  either 
young  or  old  away  from  the  church,  to  diminish  the 
stated  attendance  upon  the  regular  services  of  the 
church,  or  to  become  regarded  by  scholars  or  teach- 
ers as  an  equivalent  for  the  public  worship  of  God 
in  his  sanctuary, — assuredly  in  such  a  case  there  has 
been  a  sad  mistake. 

This  attendance  upon  church  is  not  a  question  of 
one  session  or  of  two.  I  have  known  schools  holding 
two  sessions  whose  children  in  large  numbers  at- 
tended the  church  services.  I  have  known  other 
schools  holding  but  one  session  whose  children  ab- 
sented themselves  from  church.     So  far  as  my  own 


RELIGIOUS   INSTITUTIONS.  329 

personal  experience  and  observation  go,  children 
who  attend  Sunda} -school  twice  a  day  are  just  as 
likely  to  attend  chinch  as  those  who  go  to  school  but 
once.  Teachers  in  arguing  this  matter  make  the 
mistake  of  judging  of  the  children's  feelings  by  their 
own.  To  the  teacher,  especially  to  one  whose 
health  is  at  all  delicate,  it  becomes  an  exhausting 
labor  to  attend  two  school  sessions  and  two  church 
services.  If  I  have  ever  had  any  misgivings  about 
the  propriety  of  two  sessions,  it  has  been  on  account 
of  the  teacher,  not  on  account  of  the  children.  The 
school,  which  to  the  faithful  teacher  is  necessarily 
laborious  and  exhausting,  is  to  the  scholar  almost  a 
recreation.  Look  at  the  scholars  as  they  issue  from 
any  well-conducted  school.  You  see  no  jaded  looks 
among  them.  They  are  as  full  of  life  and  buoyancy 
as  when  they  left  home  in  the  morning.  They  are 
just  as  ready  and  as  fitted,  physically  and  mentally, 
for  attending  the  church  service,  as  if  they  had  come 
frech  from  home.  Sotnctimes  more  so.  For  there 
is  a  stir  and  a  social  excitement  in  the  school-room 
which  cannot  always  be  found  at  home,  and  this  stir 
and  excitement  awaken  the  faculties  and  make  them 
more  ready  for  new  mental  occupation. 

Let  us  apply  a  little  arithmetic  to  this  subject. 
The  morning  session  usually  occupies  one  hour  and 
a  half,  the  church  service  an  equal  time.  Here  is 
a  confinement  of  three  hours  before  dinner,  not  con- 
tinuous, however,  but  relieved  by  the  transition  from 
the  school  to  the  church,  and  by  numerous  changes 
28* 


330  RELATIONS    TO   OTHER 

of  occupation  during  the  three  hours.  In  the  after- 
noon, the  session  continues  usually  one  hour,  and  the 
church  service  one  hour  and  a  half  Here  then  are 
five  hours  and  a  half  hours  of  confinement,  all  told. 
This,  it  is  said,  is  too  much  for  childhood  and  youth. 
It  is  more  than  they  can  bear,  and  when  compelled 
to  give  full  attendance  upon  school  both  parts  of  the 
day,  they  are  so  jaded  that  they  cannot  and  ought 
not  to  attend  church.  How^  is  it  on  Monday,  and 
on  every  other  day  except  Sunday.?  These  same 
children  in  the  weekday-schools  attend  regularly 
five  and  six  hours  a  day,  and  no  harm  done.  Three 
hours  in  the  morning  and  two  or  three  in  the  after- 
noon, often  five  or  six  hours  continuously,  unrelieved 
by  change  or  transition,  and  with  very  brief  and  pre- 
carious intermissions.  Would  the  writers  who  con- 
tend that  the  children  are  so  fagged  out  by  attending 
Sunday-school  an  hour  and  a  half  in  the  morning 
and  an  hour  in  the  afternoon,  that  they  are  physi- 
cally disqualified  for  the  church  service,  be  willing 
to  limit  the  attendance  of  children  upon  the  week- 
day-school  to  two  hours  and  a  half  daily.?  Is  the 
importance  of  secular  instruction  so  much  greater 
than  that  of  religious  instruction  that  while  we  give 
to  the  former  thirty  hours  a  week  in  school,  we  can 
afford  to  whittle  down  the  latter  to  a  bare  allowance 
of  an  hour  and  a  half  in  school.? 

I  repeat,  the  attendance  of  children  upon  the 
church  service  is  not  a  question  of  sessions.  When 
the  children   leave  the  school,  they  are   in  just  as 


RELIGIOUS   INSTITUTIONS.  331 

good  a  condition  for  entering  the  church  as  if  they 
were  fresh  from  home — in  many  cases,  more  so. 
In  a  great  majority  of  cases,  those  children  who  on 
being  dismissed  from  school  do  not  enter  the  church 
would  not  have  gone  to  church  if  they  had  not  been 
at  school.  The  church  is  not  attractive  to  them. 
With  all  respect  to  some  who  have  argued  on  the 
other  side,  I  do  not  think  the  church  is  to  be  made 
attractive  by  making  the  school  repulsive.  Continue 
to  the  school  all  the  attractions  it  has,  and  give  it 
manifold  more.  But  let  the  church  itself  have  some 
attractions  for  the  young.  If  children  are  driven 
from  the  school  into  the  church,  like  sheep  into  a 
pen,  by  mere  naked  authority,  the  effect  cannot  fail 
to  be  disastrous. 

Children  ordinarily  have  nothing  to  do  in  church. 
They  are  not  allowed  to  join  in  the  singing;  it 
might  disturb  the  quartette  in  the  gallery.  They 
are  not  required  to  follow  the  minister  in  the  reading 
of  the  Scriptures.  There  is  nothing  in  the  sermon 
addressed  to  them,  and  usually  little  in  it  which  they 
can  understand.  They  are  merely  required  to  sit 
still  and  do  nothing.  Truly,  it  is  a  hard  task.  Flesh 
nnd  blood  cry  out  against  it.  Pounding  stone  in  the 
street  is  nothing  to  it.  No  wonder  that  children  are 
rebellious  on  the  subject. 

People,  old  or  young,  are  interested  in  a  service 
in  proportion  as  they  have  an  active  participation  in 
it.  I  cannot  but  think  it  a  great  mistake,  in  arrang- 
ing any  public  service,  to  have  it  so  ordered  that  the 


332  RELATIONS    TO    OTHER. 

mass  of  the  people  should  be  mere  passive  recipients 
or  spectators.  In  proportion  as  one  single  func- 
tionary becomes  a  mere  factotum,  do  the  rest  of  the 
congregation  lose  interest.  I  know  that  it  is  not  the 
theory  of  any  church  service  that  the  minister  and 
the  choir  are  to  be  the  active,  and  the  congregation 
merely  passive,  participants  in  it.  In  theory,  when 
the  minister  reads  the  Scriptures,  the  congregation 
are  supposed  to  read  with  him,  though  not  always 
audibly.  When  he  prays,  it  is  not  that  he  prays 
for  them,  but  they  all  pray  through  his  one  voice. 
All  likewise  are  supposed  to  sing  God's  praises,  the 
choir  acting  as  a  sort  of  support  and  guide  to  voices 
not  so  well  trained.  Something  like  this  may  per- 
haps be  the  theory.  But  we  are  now  inquiring  for 
facts,  not  for  theories.  It  is  a  fact  which  no  one 
will  probably  call  in  question  that  in  some  churches, 
during  the  public  services,  the  mass  of  the  congrega- 
tion do  nothing.  They  may  do  mental  acts.  But 
so  far  as  material,  bodily  acts  are  concerned,  they 
are  simply  passive. 

Now  grown  persons,  with  minds  matured  and  dis- 
ciplined, may  be  able,  by  a  process  of  mere  mental  ab- 
straction, to  enter  somewhat  into  the  various  services. 
But  it  is  not  so  with  a  child  ;  and  I  have  often 
noticed  that  children  are  much  more  inclined  to  at- 
tend church  in  those  congregations  in  which  eithei 
the  custom  of  the  people,  or  the  prescribed  order  of 
the  service,  gives  to  the  congregation  an  active  par- 
ticipation in  what  is  going  on,  as  in  giving  responses, 


RELIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS.  333 

in  reading  alternate  verses  of  the  Scripture,  in 
general  congregational  singing,  and  so  forth.  Let 
parents  and  teachers  who  wish  children  to  become 
interested  in  the  church  service  see  that  they  take  as 
active  a  part  in  it  as  the  prescribed  order  of  the 
church  will  permit.  Let  the  seats  which  they  oc- 
cupy be  furnished  with  Bibles  and  hymn-books. 
When  the  minister  reads  a  chapter,  let  each  child 
be  required  to  find  it  in  his  Bible  and  follow  the 
reading,  the  parent  or  teacher  setting  the  example. 
When  the  hymn  is  announced,  let  each  child  find  it 
and  follow  the  reading  when  it  is  read,  and  join  in 
the  singing  to  the  best  of  his  ability  when  it  is  sung. 
Let  children  be  trained  to  assume  a  devotional 
attitude  during  prayer,  and  taught  to  endeavor  men- 
tally to  follow  the  prayer  and  join  in  it.  If  the  prayer 
be  extemporaneous,  some  petitions  specially  suited 
to  the  thoughts  and  the  wants  of  the  young  will  aid 
wonderfully  in  giving  the  young  an  interest  in  the 
prayer.  Let  them,  of  course,  be  required  always  to 
turn  to  the  text  when  announced,  and  make  a  note 
of  it. 

Beyond  this,  I  know  that  I  am  on  ticklish  ground. 
But  will  not  our  clerical  brethren  listen  for  once  to 
a  short  sermon  from  a  lay  brother.?  Not  every  min- 
ister has  the  gift  to  preach  sermons  to  children  as 
Dr.  Newton  does  and  as  many  others  do.  But  this, 
is  not  necessary.  Indeed,  except  only  as  an  occa- 
sional service,  it  is  not  expedient  or  wise.  But  may 
not  every  minister  in  every  sermon  put  in  something 


334  RELATIONS    TO    OTHER 

which  shall  be  level  to  the  capacity  of  the  child-part 
of  his  audience?  May  not  every  minister  in  the 
composition  of  his  sermon  remember  that  children 
are  to  be  among  his  hearers?  Though  he  cannot 
perhaps  make  his  whole  discourse  such  that  they  can 
follow  it,  yet  surely  he  can  bring  some  of  its  para- 
graphs within  the  range  of  their  intellectual  vision. 
And  let  him  be  sure  of  one  thing  :  no  part  of  his  dis- 
course will  be  so  acceptable  to  the  whole  congrega- 
tion or  receive  such  universal  attention  as  those  pas- 
sages which  were  intended  especially  for  the  little 
ones,  and  which  the  little  ones  appropriate  as  their 
own.  Will  not  our  ministers  think  of  this?  Do, 
brethren,  say  something  every  Sunday  to  the  chil- 
dren. The  children  will  then  feel  that  they  have 
something  to  come  to' church  for. 

Some  consideration  of  the  bodily  comfort  6f  chil- 
dren should  find  its  way  into  the  brains  of  those  who 
plan  and  build  our  church  edifices.  Church  archi- 
tects and  building  committees  have  much  to  answer 
for.  A  house  of  worship  should  not  be  built  for  the 
purpose  of  illustrating  some  particular  style  of  archi- 
tecture, or  as  a  pattern  card  of  some  particular  archi- 
tect or  builder,  but  for  the  convenience  and  accom- 
modation of  the  worshippers  in  attending  upon  the 
public  service  of  God.  Whatever  of  ornament  or  of 
architectural  device  can  be  had  in  connection  with 
this,  and  subordinate  to  it,  is  well.  But,  after  all, 
the  accommodation  of  the  worshippers  is  the  main 
design,  and  should  ever  be  kept  uppermost  in  the 


RELIGIOUS  INSTITUTIONS.  335 

thoughts  of  the  builders.  Yet  when,  in  the  consulta- 
tions of  a  building  committee  of  a  church,  was  the 
question  ever  asked.  How  far  will  our  children  be 
made  comfortable  and  find  their  places  pleasant  and 
attractive  in  this  house  which  we  are  planning?  It 
is  not  uncommon  in  these  days  to  spend  a  hundred 
thousand  dollars  upon  a  church  edifice.  Does  a  dol- 
lar of  these  hundred  thousand  ever  go  directly  or  de- 
signedly toward  making  the  seats  or  the  furniture  or 
any  of  the  appointments  of  the  building  convenient 
and  pleasant  to  children  ?  If  we  were  to  require  our 
children  to  go  to  church  in  the  clothes  made  for  their 
parents,  it  would  not  be  a  whit  more  absurd  than 
what  we  now  do.  Father's  boots  and  long-tailed 
coat  and  steeple  hat  are  just  as  suitable  and  comfort- 
able to  little  six-year-old  Johnny  as  are  the  seat  and 
the  benches  which  were  made  to  suit  the  persons 
and  the  limbs  of  adult  people.  If  our  grown-up 
folks  could  be  obliged  for  a  few  Sundays  to  occupy 
for  a  couple  of  hours,  twice  a  day,  seats  three  feet 
wide  and  five  feet  high,  so  that  during  the  whole 
service  neither  their  feet  could  once  rest  upon  the 
floor  nor  their  persons  lean  against  the  back  of  the 
pew,  they  might  begin  to  understand  one  of  the  rea- 
sons why  children  so  often  find  the  church  a  burden. 

5.   School  Accofjimodations. 

If  our  Sunday-schools  are  ever  to  be  what  we  are 
aiming  to  make  them — a  great  instrumentality  of  the 
church  in  doing  her  appointed  work  of  evangelizing 


33^  RELATIONS    TO    OTHER 

the  masses — we  must  give  them  better  accommoda- 
tions, and  building  committees  and  church  architects 
will  never  rise  to  a  proper  comprehension  of  the 
wants  of  the  case  until  Sunday-school  men  take  the 
matter  seriously  in  hand  and  agitate  the  subject. 
This  should  be  a  standing  topic  at  every  gathering 
of  Sunday-school  teachers.  I  must  be  allowed  to 
express  some  surprise  that  it  attracts  so  little  atten- 
tion. Look  over  the  programme  of  topics  for  almost 
any  convention,  large  or  small,  whether  of  city, 
county  or  State,  and  you  will  rarely  find  this  subject 
on  the  list  of  those  to  be  discussed. 

One  reason  probably  why  Sunday-school  teachers 
do  not  agitate  the  subject  is  that  each  one  considers 
the  matter  settled  so  far  as  he  is  concerned.  His 
church  is  already  built,  and  it  is  too  late  to  make 
changes.  If  the  school  is  properly  accommodated, 
well  and  good  ;  if  not,  the  thing  is  done,  and  all  that 
is  left  is  to  make  the  best  of  what  they  have.  Go  on 
with  the  school  in  the  gallery,  or  in  the  pews,  or  in 
the  basement,  or  up  in  the  belfry,  or  wherever  it  has 
been  held  hitherto,  because  it  is  out  of  the  question 
to  think  of  tearing  the  church  down  in  order  to  re- 
construct it  with  reference  to  the  wants  of  the  Sun- 
day-school. This  feejing  of  the  hopelessness  of  the 
case  puts  a  quietus  upon  all  plans  for  improvement. 

But  is  this  right  or  wise?  See  what  prodigious 
improvement  has  been  made  in  the  construction  of 
houses  for  the  weekday-school.  And  how  was  this 
brought  about?     By  teachers  and  the  friends  of  edu- 


RELIGIOUS   INSTITUTIONS.  337 

cation  keeping  up  a  continual  din  on  the  subject,  ex- 
posing the  shabby  condition  of  tlie  old-fashioned 
school-houses,  and  clamoring  for  something  better, 
until  a  public  sentiment  was  created  which  compelled 
a  better  state  of  things.  New  churches  are  going  up 
every  year  all  over  the  land,  and  they  are  all  being 
built,  and  they  will  continue  to  be  built,  in  the  old 
stereotyped  way  until,  by  talking,  discussion  and 
agitation  of  various  kinds,  we  make  it  impossible  for 
church  architects  and  builders  any  longer  to  ignore 
the  wants  of  the  Sunday-school. 

Let  me  give  in  a  few  words  my  idea  of  what  a 
Sunday-school  does  need  for  its  accommodation.  If 
I  were  about  to  embark  in  an  enterprise  having  for 
its  object  to  gather  and  build  up  a  large,  strong, 
working  congregation,  and  had  to  construct  the  ne- 
cessary building  or  buildings  for  such  a  congrega- 
tion, I  would  say  to  the  architect.  Remember  in  your 
plans  that  the  audience-room  where  the  preaching  is 
done  is  not  the  whole  church,  or  all  that  is  to  be 
looked  after.  There  will  be  as  many  people  to  be 
seated  in  the  Sunday-school  rooms  as  there  will  be 
in  the  church.  The  Sunday-school  rooms  should 
occupy  as  much  space, — length,  breadth  and  height 
— and  should  cost  as  much  money,  as  the  main  audi- 
ence-room of  the  church. 

Why  not?    Why  should  we  give  a  style  of  palatial 

elegance  and  comfort  to  the  apartment  which  is  to 

be  occupied  from  half-past  ten  to  twelve,  and  thrust 

the  same  number  of  people,  and  to  a  great  extent 

29  W 


33^  RELATIONS    TO    OTHER 

the  same  identical  people,  down  into  some  dismal 
basement  from  nine  to  half-past  ten  ? 

If  the  main  auditorium  of  the  church  is  to  cost  fifty 
thousand  dollars,  and  we  wish  to  maintain  a  due 
proportion  in  the  arrangements,  we  ought  to  spend 
another  fifty  thousand  dollars  on  the  school-rooms, 
and  twenty-five  thousand  more  on  the  lecture-room 
and  its  appertainings.  Or,  to  vary  the  phrase,  if  the 
whole  structure  and  furnishing  are  to  cost  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  thousand  dollars,  let  twenty-five 
thousand  go  for  the  lecture-room,  fifty  thousand  for 
the  school,  and  fifty  thousand  for  the  church.  Or,  to 
generalize  the  problem,  divide  your  money  into  five 
equal  parts,  and  spend  one-fifth  on  your  lecture-room, 
two-fifths  on  your  school-rooms,  and  two-fifths  on 
your  audience-chamber. 

I  am  in  sober  earnest  in  these  statements.  I  be- 
lieve most  thoroughly  that  the  money  bestowed  upon 
a  church  enterprise,  if  expended  in  about  these  pro- 
portions, would  yield  better  results,  would  sooner 
gather  a  good  congregation  and  a  flourishing  and 
healthy  church,  than  if  expended  in  the  usual  way. 
For  the  religious  wants  of  a  congregation  the  audi- 
ence-room, or  preaching-room,  should  bear  about 
the  same  proportions  to  the  remaining  part  of  the 
edifice  that  the  parlor  of  a  dwelling-house  bears  to 
the  other  apartments.  In  building  our  churches  we 
imitate  some  fashionable  people  whose  houses  are 
all  parlor. 

In  large  Sunday-schools,  such  as  we  have,  or  might 


RELIGIOUS   INSTITUTIONS  339 

have,  in  cities  and  in  inland  towns  and  villages,  and 
in  some  country  congregations,  in  a  school  num- 
Dering,  say,  three  hundred  scholars  or  more,  we 
want,  first,  a  large  room,  where  all  the  school  can  be 
assembled  for  opening  and  closing  services,  and 
where  a  majority  of  the  scholars  can  be  taught,  di- 
vided into  classes.  This  room  should  be  light  and 
air}',  suitably  carpeted,  the  walls  supplied  with  maps 
and  blackboards,  and  the  ceiling  in  no  case  less  than 
twenty  feet  high.  There  should  be  a  separate  room 
of  about  one-third  the  size  for  the  infant  school. 
The  ceiling  of  this  also  should  be  not  less  than  twenty 
feet  high.  The  infant  school-room  should  be  fur- 
nished with  a  rising  gallery  and  supplied  with  picto- 
rial illustrations  in  great  numbers  and  variety.  There 
should  be  also  several  small  rooms,  nicely  carpeted 
and  furnished,  for  the  Bible  classes  and  the  normal 
class.  It  would  be  well,  also,  though  not  essential, 
that  the  library  should  be  kept  in  a  rQom  by  itself. 

I  do  believe  that,  with  the  earnest  spirit  of  im- 
provement now  manifested  by  Sunday-school  teach- 
ers, a  great  and  wonderful  stride  forward  would  be 
made  by  the  institution  if  our  church  builders  would 
fturly  recognize  its  claims  and  provide  for  its  material 
wants. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


MISCELLANEOUS  TOPICS. 


I .   Sunday-school  Music, 

LL  children  love  music,  and  almost  all  chil- 
dren love  to  sing.  This  instinctive  desire 
has  been  wisely  subsidized  in  aid  of  religion, 
and  especially  in  aid  of  the  Sunday-school.  Singing 
makes  the  school  attractive.  In  many  districts  chil- 
dren are  literally  sung  into  the  school  by  hundreds. 
Music  is  made  also  the  vehicle  of  direct  religious 
teaching  and  -impression.  The  words  sung  ought 
always  to  convey,  and  usually  do  convey,  important 
and  weighty  truths,  and  these  truths  thus  find  a  lodg- 
ment in  the  mind.  Sacred  song  also  is  expressive  of 
emotion.  The  child  in  singing  gives  by  his  voice 
expression  to  this  emotion,  and  the  mere  act  of  giv- 
ing it  expression  reacts  upon  the  mind  itself  just  as 
a  man  in  uttering  the  strong  language  of  scorn  works 
himself  gradually  into  the  feeling  of  scorn.  In  every 
view  of  the  subject,  therefore,  I  cannot  but  regard 
with  interest  and  hope  the  very  general  attention 
that  is  now  paid  to  singing  in  our  Sunday-schools. 
340 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  341 

Music-books  for  this  special  purpose  have  been 
greatly  multiplied,  and  though  there  is  necessarily 
much  ditlcrcnce  in  tliese  books  as  to  merit,  I  have 
never  seen  one  that  did  not  contain  some  sweet  and 
beautiful  tunes.  These  facts  are  of  good  omen.  They 
ought  to  encourage  the  Sunday-school  laborer  and 
make  him  hopeful. 

In  teaching  children  in  the  Sunday-school  to  sing 
there  are  some  common-sense  rules  to  be  observed. 
First  of  all,  tlie  pieces  selected  should  not  contain  any- 
thing light,  irreverent  or  vulgar,  either  in  the  words 
themselves  or  in  their  associations.  I  have  heard 
not  a  few  pieces  sung  in  Sunday-school  that  savored 
very  decidedly  of  the  circus  and  the  negro  minstrels. 
The  argument  for  it  with  the  superintendent  was 
that  it  seemed  to  captivate  the  children.  There  was 
a  stir  and  a  movement  about  it  which  was  pleasing, 
and  the  children  sang  it  with  a  will.  The  argument 
would  be  just  as  good  for  introducing  a  game  of  base- 
ball or  of  marbles  into  the  Sunday-school ;  no  doubt 
the  children  would  go  at  it  with  a  rush.  I  go  as  far 
as  any  one  for  pleasing  the  children.  There  is  no 
use  of  trying  to  sing  anything  in  school  unless  the 
children  are  pleased  with  it.  But  that  is  no  reason 
for  singing  there  everything  they  like.  The  thing 
sung  must  be  devout,  religious  and  elevating  in  its 
character.     This  is  indispensable. 

But  it  by  no  means  follows  that  either  the  words 
or  the  tune  should  be  glum  and  chilling.  On  the 
contrary,  our  second  rule  is  that  the  prevailing  tone 
29* 


342  MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS. 

both  of  the  words  and  the  music  intended  for  the- 
Sunday-school  should  be  of  a  cheerful  and  buoyant 
character.  There  must  be  life  and  movement  about 
it.  Expressions  of  gladness  and  exhilaration,  of  joy 
and  hope,  of  love  and  desire,  always  take  with  the 
children.  The  movement  of  the  song  also  should  be 
quick  and  lively  like  the  physical  activity  of  children. 
Some  schools  go  to  an  extreme  in  this  matter ;  their 
singing  is  at  full  gallop.  The  more  common  error, 
however,  is  on  the  other  side,  expecting  'children  to 
sing  in  the  slow,  stately  and  solemn  style  suited  to 
ailults.  It  is  essential  to  excellence  in  children's 
singing  that  it  be  childlike.  Softness  and  gentleness 
in  music  are  qualities  that  always  please  the  little 
ones.  These  qualities  also  have  a  fine  effect  upon 
the  order  of  the  school,  soothing  asperities,  quieting 
the  tendency  to  noise  and  producing  in  some  inde- 
scribable way  a  feeling  of  contentedness. 
The  following  cautions  are  to  be  observed : 

1.  Mei-e  noise  is  not  singing:  In  some  schools 
the  children  sing  with  a*will — at  least  tliey  go 
through  with  a  vocal  performance  which  can  be 
heard  a  good  way  off,  and  which  is  called  singing — 
but  no  one  who  has  an  ear  for  sweet  sounds  would 
call  the  performance  music-  There  is  a  great  deal  of 
earnestness  about  it,  a  great  expenditure  of  vocal 
power,  but  no  melody,  no  harmony,  nothing  that 
can  be  truly  called  song. 

2.  Mere  so7ig  is  ?iot  sufficietit.  What  we  want 
in   the   Sunday-school   is   sweet  sound  employed  to 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  343 

express  and  to  cultiv^ite  religious  emotion.  Some 
of  the  pieces  sung  in  Sunday-school  are  beautiful  in 
their  vocalization  ;  the  ear  is  delighted  and  charmed, 
but  the  heart  is  not  satisfied  ;  they  express  nothing, 
t)r,  at  best,  something  comparatively  mean  and  trivial. 
No  piece  should  find  a  place  upon  the  Sunday-school 
programme  unless  it  is  devotional  as  well  as  musi- 
cal. It  should  express  scriptural  and  religious  sen- 
timent,— holy  joy,  gladness,  penitence,  hope,  godly- 
fear. 

3.  The  7nuslc  of  the  school  should  be  such  as  ivlll 
be  continued  in  the  9?iusic  of  the  sanctuary.  Noth- 
ing is  more  common  than  to  hear  in  the  Sunday- 
school  very  excellent  singing,  every  voice  joining  in 
and  all  enjoying  the  service  ;  but  ten  minutes  later, 
in  the  same  building,  in  a  room  separated  from  this 
by  only  a  single  w^all,  you  shall  see  a  congregation, 
composed  largely  of  these  same  persons,  sitting  silent 
listeners  to  a  quartette  club  performing  in  the  gallery 
the  music  of  the  church.  Why  is  this.'*  Why  can 
these  scholars  and  teachers  sing  so  well  and  so 
heartily  in  the  school,  while  they  can  only  sit  dumb 
in  the  church?  It  is  not  all  their  fault.  The  choir 
often  sing  pieces  which  none  but  a  choir  can  sing. 
But  this  is  not  always  the  case.  Some  of  the  pieces 
sung  in  church  are  such  as  are  suited  to  congrega- 
tional singing,  and  yet  the  members  of  the  school 
never  join  in.  The  reason  is  that  the  church  hymns 
and  the  church  music  are  not  sung  in  the  school. 
This  I  hold  to  be  all  wrone.     While  some  few  of 


344  MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS. 

the  things  sung  in  school  should  be  such  as  are 
suited  to  the  school  only,  yet  the  great  majority  of 
the  hymns  and  tunes  should  be  such  as  the  children 
will  sing  in  church  when  they  become  men  and 
women.  The  Sunday-school  service  will  thus  be- 
come an  important  auxiliary  and  preparative  to  the 
church  service. 

A  superintendent  who  knows  nothing  about  music 
himself,  and  who  cannot  sing  at  all,  may  yet  secure 
excellent  singing  in  his  school  if  he  has  any  one  of 
even  ordinary  ability  to  lead.  To  accomplish  this 
end,  however,  he  must  reserve  to  himself  the  selec- 
tion of  the  tunes.  Let  him  only  keep  his  eyes  open 
and  observe  the  effect  of  each  tune  upon  the  scholars. 
If  it  is  one  that  produces  wild  excitement,  and  creates 
a  tendency  to  noisiness  after  the  singing  is  over,  or 
if  it  is  one  that  after  fair  trial  the  children  will  not 
take  to  and  that  evidently  is  a  drag,  drop  it ;  no 
matter  how  fine  the  music  teacher  pronounces  it  to 
be,  drop  it.  It  may  be  very  good  for  a  choir,  or  for 
professed  musicians.  But  for  the  Sunday-school  it 
is  simply  7iil.  There  is  no  use  of  worrying  the  chil- 
dren with  a  tune  that  is  a  drag  and  a  bore.  An  in- 
dispensable requisite  in  a  Sunday-school  tune  is 
that  it  is  one  that  the  children  themselves  will  love 
and  will  sing  with  pleasure,  and  of  this  fact  the 
superintendent  can  judge  just  as  well  as  the  cho- 
rister, generally  better.  If  a  tune  is  a  favorite  with 
the  scholars,  you  see  it  in  their  eye§  the  moment  that 
it  is  announced,  or  that  you  begin  to  sing  it.     By 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  345 

this  simple  rule,  of  admitting  no  tunes  but  those  that 
prove  themselves  favorites,  the  exercise  soon  be- 
comes pleasurable  and  attractive,  and  the  children 
get  into  the  way  of  singing  with  their  whole  soul. 

It  helps  very  much  the  learning  of  a  tune  for  the 
children  first  to  commit  the  words  to  memory.  This 
should  be  secured  partly  by  the  labor  of  the  teachers 
in  the  several  classes,  but  also,  and  perhaps  mainly, 
by  a  general  concert  recitation.  Let  the  whole 
school  say  the  words  in  concert,  at  the  dictation 
of  the  superintendent,  before  they  undertake  to  si7ig 
them.  Some  superintendents  seem  not  to  know 
how  to  secure  entire  harmony  and  thoroughness  in  a 
concert  recitation.  The  main  secret  is  in  the  man- 
ner of  giving  out  the  words  to  be  repeated.  The 
leader  in  such  an  exercise  should  give  out  a  very 
small  portion,  only  two  or  three  words,  at  a  time. 
He  should  keep  his  eyes  on  the  smallest  and  dullest 
child  in  the  room,  and  gauge  his  movements  by  the 
manifest  capacity  of  that  child.  If  the  number  of 
words  given  out  at  once  is  more  than  that  child  can 
readily  take  up  and  repeat,  let  him  proceed  more 
slowly,  and  shorten  the  portions.  This  rule  is  par- 
ticularly important  in  introducing  a  hymn  that  is 
quite  new.  Go  over  it  in  this  way  very  slowly  and 
thoroughly  the  first  few  times,  securing  a  full  and 
complete  response  from  every  voice  in  the  room. 
After  a  while,  he  may  proceed  more  rapidly,  giving 
perhaps  a  whole  line  at  a  time,  and  finally  the 
school,  on  being  started  with  the  first  word,  will  go 


34^  MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS. 

through  the  whole  hymn  without  missing  a  word, 
and  without  a  voice  dropping  out.  This  reciting  a 
hymn  thus  in  concert  has  other  advantages  besides 
merely  securing  that  it  shall  be  perfectly  remem- 
bered. The  voices  of  the  whole  school  learn  to 
move  together.  They  learn  to  blend  smoothly  and 
harmoniously,  and  they  acquire  a  precision  and  uni- 
formity of  vocal  action  which  are  half  the  battle 
when  they  come  to  sing.  This  training  the  children 
to  commit  the  words  to  memory  and  to  recite  them 
in  concert  is  the  work  not  of  the  chorister,  but  of 
the  teachers  and  of  the  superintendent.  According 
to  my  observation,  it  is  very  generally  neglected, 
and  much  of  the  failure  in  Sunday-school  singing  is 
attributable  to  this  cause. 

2.    Sunday-school  An7ilversaries. 

Some  superintendents  and  pastors  disapprove  en- 
tirely of  Sunday-school  anniversaries,  and  discounte- 
nance them  in  every  way  practicable.  It  is  feared 
that  the  children  will  get  their  heads  full  of  excite- 
ment, and  that  the  show  and  bustle  and  slight 
irregularities  of  various  kinds  connected  with  a 
public  celebration  will  divert  attention  from  study 
and  disturb  the  sober  proprieties  suitable  to  God's 
holy  day  and  house.  It  is  not  to  be  denied  that 
anniversaries  may  be  so  managed  as  to  produce 
frivolous  thouglits  and  behavior,  and  to  make  chil- 
dren vain  and  conceited.  But  so  may  the  school 
itself,  in   its  ordinary  sessions,  produce   these   same 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  347 

evils.  The  argument  from  the  abuse  of  a  thing  is 
not  valid  against  any  right  use  of  it.  An  anniversary 
m  a  Sunday-school  may  be  so  conducted  as  to  pro- 
mote directly  and  efficiently  every  right  aim  of  the 
institution,  and  at  the  same  time  it  may  secure  cer- 
tain important  results  which  cannot  be  reached  by 
the  school  in  its  ordinary  operations. 

An  anniversary  should  always  be  of  a  memorial 
character.  It  is  an  occasion  for  recounting  and  re- 
cording the  mercies  of  the  year.  These  mercies 
occurring  singly,  from  week  to  week,  fail  to  make 
the  proper  impression.  When  brought  together  and 
aggregated  in  the  annual  report,  in  the  form  of  sta- 
tistics and  of  narratives,  they  stand  out  in  relief,  and 
have  an  emphasis  not  accorded  to  them  otherwise. 
Even  a  school  that  seems  to  have  been  languishing 
and  feeble  will  find  on  reviewing  its  own  history  for 
a  year,  and  putting  down  carefully  its  own  experi- 
ences, that  there  has  been  much  to  be  thankful  for. 

The  anniversary  strengthens  the  hold  of  the 
school  upon  the  church.  It  brings  many  persons 
into  sympathy  with  the  work  who  are  never  reached 
in  any  other  way.  It  gives  an  impetus  to  the 
school  itself,  stirring  up  both  vScholars  and  teachers 
to  new  zeal.  It  furnishes  an  occasion  for  the  pastor 
and  for  other  speakers  to  appeal  to  scholars  and 
teachers  on  many  points  of  a  general  character 
which  ought  not  to  be  neglected.  It  is  a  favorable 
season  for  urging  the  duties  of  benevolence,  of 
punctuality,    of  order,    of  diligent    study    of  God's 


34^  MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS. 

word.  So  fiir  from  the  anniversary  being  a  sort  of 
frolic,  I  know  no  better  time  in  the  whole  year  for 
pressing  upon  the  unconverted  the  duty  of  repent- 
ance and  conversion.  I  have  known  serious  impres- 
sions often  produced  by  the  anniversary  exercises, 
and  I  think,  in  arranging  these  exercises,  a  place 
should  always  be  reserved  for  this  important  topic. 
Let  the  children  have  music  that  will  gladden  and 
please  them.  Let  them  be  cheered  and  entertained 
by  various  little  ceremonials  connected  with  the 
annual  collections,  the  distribution  of  premiums,  etc. 
But  let  there  always  be  at  the  right  moment  a  few 
plain  words  of  direct  counsel  and  warning  on  the 
subject  of  the  salvation  of  their  souls.  The  topic, 
if  rightly  handled,  will  be  all  the  more  impressive 
on  account  of  the  general  good  feeling  which  pre- 
vails on  anniversary  day. 

There  are  modes  of  holding  Sunday-school  cele- 
brations which  it  is  difficult  for  any  sober-minded 
Christian  to  approve.  Sometimes  particular  chil- 
dren are  showed  off  in  a  manner  that  is  very  injuri- 
ous to  themselves  and  that  creates  envy  and  ill-feeHng 
in  the  minds  of  others.  There  is  at  times  a  levitv  in 
the  proceedings  entirely  unsuited  to  the  service. 
The  exercises,  of  course,  should  be  of  a  glad  and 
joyous  character.  Let  the  children  shout  their  ho- 
sannas,  as  of  old,  from  hearts  alive  with  love  and  joy. 
But  nothing  so  really  kills  this  true  and  holy  ghuU 
ness  of  heart  as  rudeness  or  levity. 

The  most  objectionable  feature  connected  with  a 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  349 

Sunday-school  celebration  is  turning  it  into  a  dra- 
matic entertainment.  I  have  never  seen  a  perform- 
ance of  this  kind,  but  have  heard  of  such,  and  I  have 
before  me  a  published  account  of  one  which  I  have 
read  with  sincere  sorrow.  This  celebration  did  not 
take  place  in  the  church,  nor  on  Sunday.  Still  it 
was  a  celebration  of  the  Sunday-school,  so  regarded 
and  so  called.  The  exercises  consisted  almost  ex- 
clusively of  "  performances"  by  the  children.  There 
were  speeches,  dialogues,  songs,  tableaux,  and  finally 
a  "regular  drama,"  with  "actors"  dressed  in  appro- 
priate costume  and  with  scenic  display.  I  give  a 
few  extracts,  and  let  my  readers  judge  for  themselves 
whether  a  word  of  caution  is  not  needed : 

"  Single  pieces,  such  as  '  The  Best  Use  of  a  Penny,'  '  I'll  Never  Use  To- 
bacco,' and  'Willie's  Temptation,'  by  some  of  the  smaller  boys  of  the  school, 
were  remarkably  well  delivered  for  children  of  their  age.  The  dialogue  of '  The 
Two  Dimes '  contained  an  instructive  moral  that  all  could  appreciate,  and  the 
'Eleventh  Commandment,'  a  dialogue  between  three  of  the  girls,  was  as  per- 
fectly rendered  as  anything  we  have  ^ever  seen  anywhere.  The  other  exercises 
embraced  the  recital  of  The  Better  Land,'  from  Mrs.  Hemans,  recitation  of  the 
twenty-third  Psalm  by  the  whole  school,  song,  '  I  Ought  to  Love  my  Mother,'  by 
three  very  small  girls,  whose  voices  blended  in  sweet  accord,  dialogues  entitled 
'God  is  Love,'  by  two  little  girls,  and  'The  Rabbit,'  by  two  boys,  presentation 
of  gifts  by  the  superintendent  to  scholars  who  had,  as  missionaries  in  our  midst, 
been  most  successful  in  bringing  new  scholars  into  the  Sunday-school,  some 
beautiful  tableaux  representing  '  Incidents  in  the  Life  of  a  Boy  who  had  neglected 
the  Sunday-school,'  and  then  in  contrast  with  it,  '  Incidents  in  the  Life  of  a  Sun- 
day-school Scholar,'  from  which  the  moral  was  easily  drawn.  '  Faith,  Hope  and 
Charity,'  and  the  representation  of  '  Night  and  Morning,'  constituted  the  most 
perfect  and  beautiful  tableaux  we  ever  remember  to  have  witnessed.  Perhaps, 
Iiowever,  the  great  piece  of  the  evening  was  a  scenic  representation  of 'Joseph 
and  his  Brethren.'  It  was  dramatized  from  the  Scriptures,  divided  into  acts  and 
scenes ;  the  characters  were  all  dressed  in  Oriental  costume  and  exhibited  the 
Oriental  styles  of  salutation  and  manners,  and  the  effect  was  to  impress  this  most 
interesting  portion  of  the  Scriptures  upon  the  minds  of  the  children  in  a  manner 
they  can  never  forget.  We  were  first  introduced  to  the  old  patriarch  Jacob  as 
30 


350  MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS. 

he  is  sending  his  sons  to  Egypt  to  buy  food  ;  next  we  are  in  Joseph's  palace, 
and  the  sons  before  him,  unconscious  in  whose  presence  they  stand;  then  the 
sons  in  prison,  and  the  entry  of  Joseph  and  his  permission  to  all  of  them  to  re- 
turn to  Canaan  except  Simeon  ;  their  return  and  story  to  Jacob  ;  their  second 
visit  to  Egypt,  with  all  the  incidents ;  the  discovery  of  Joseph  to  his  brethren 
and  their  final  return  and  account  of  it  to  Jacob.  We  are  not  extravagant  in 
saying  that  but  few  persons  of  any  age  could  have  rendered  these  parts  better 
than  the  boys  of  this  Sunday-school,  and  the  whole  performance  certainly  re- 
flected great  credit  upon  those  who  had  the  management  of  it  in  charge." 

As  to  the  season  of  the  year  for  holding  the  an- 
niversary, schools  differ  according  to  the  customs 
prevailing  in  each  congregation  ;  but  the  majority  of 
schools  have  their  anniversary  in  the  spring  or  early 
summer. 

There  is,  of  course,  no  absolute  rule  as  to  the  best 
part  of  the  day  for  holding  the  anniversary.  I  ob- 
ject, however,  most  decidedly  to  having  it  at  night. 
In  most  congregations  the  afternoon  is  found  most 
convenient.  Whatever  part  of  the  day  is  taken,  the 
anniversary  should  take  the  place  of  one  regular  ser- 
vice. To  have  preaching  morning  and  night,  and 
the  anniversary  in  the  afternoon  in  addition,  is  wea- 
risome and  unprofitable  to  teachers  and  scholars,  who 
constitute  no  inconsiderable  part  of  the  congregation, 
and  it  for  the  same  reason  prevents  the  other  part  of 
the  congregation  from  attending  the  anniversary. 
The  anniversary  exercises  occupy  the  full  time  of  an 
ordinary  regular  service  of  the  sanctuary,  and  it 
ought  to  be  understood  that  they  take  the  place  of 
such  a  service  and  that  all  the  congregation  are  ex 
pected  to  attend. 

It  is  well  for  the  pastor,  in  the  regular  service  for 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  351 

that  day,  to  preach  on  the  subject.  There  are  many 
points  connected  with  the  religious  training  of  the 
young  on  which  the  pastor  tlesires  to  address  his  peo- 
ple, and  the  anniversary  Sunday  furnishes  a  suitable 
occasion  for  the  purpose.  Knowing  that  such  a  ser- 
mon will  be  expected  of  him  has  its  etlect  on  the  pas- 
tor's own  mind,  keeping  him  in  fuller  communication 
with  the  operations  and  the  necessities  of  the  school. 
The  preaching  of  such  a  sermon  on  the  day  of  the 
celebration  marks  the  day  out  with  greater  distinct- 
ness in  the  Sunday-school  calendar,  and  makes  the 
occasion  in  all  respects  more  imposing  and  signif- 
icant in  the  minds  of  the  young. 

The  superintendent  should  present  a  short  but 
carefully-prepared  report  containing  a  business-like 
statement  of  the  condition  and  history  of  the  school 
for  the  past  year  and  its  wants  and  prospects  for  the 
year  to  come.  This  report  should  consist  mainly  of 
facts,  giving  accurate  statistics  of  attendance,  of  be- 
nevolent operations,  of  the  library,  of  the  teachers' 
meetings,  and  so  forth.  The  report  should  always 
be  in  writing  and  fully  written  out,  not  a  few  written 
memoranda  for  the  superintendent  to  expatiate  on. 

The  superintendent's  report  should  be  followed  by 
an  address  from  the  pastor,  and  that  address  will  nat- 
urally take  its  tone  and  topics  from  the  report.  The 
facts  of  the  report  furnish  indeed  the  points  on  which 
the  pastor  will  want  to  talk  to  his  people. 

Some  schools  make  a  point  of  securing  for  the 
anniversary  speakers  from  abroad.     It  is  a  mistake. 


352  MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS. 

These  gentlemen  who  thus  go  about  making  speeches 
say  many  good  things,  doubtless,  and  give  an  extra 
brilliancy  and  glitter  to  the  occasion,  but  this  very 
extra  brilliancy  and  glitter  only  make  the  regular 
routine  of  the  school  more  tame  and  humdrum. 
Whatever  speeches  are  to  be  made  let  them  be  made, 
so  far  as  possible,  by  persons  connected  with  the  con- 
gregation. There  is  hardly  any  congregation  which 
does  not  contain  some  gentlemen  capable  of  perform- 
ing such  a  service  if  they  are  properly  set  in  motion, 
and  the  very  fact  of  a  gentleman's  thus  addressing  the 
school  makes  him  more  interested  in  it  ever  after- 
ward. 

Two  speakers  are  enough,  one  to  the  scholars  and 
one  to  the  teachers,  and  neither  speech  should  in  any 
case  exceed  ten  minutes.  While  it  is  well  to  have 
the  speeches  enlivened  with  anecdote  and  illustration, 
let  them  never  degenerate  into  buffoonery  or  into 
mere  story-telling.  Scholars  are  willing  enough  to 
be  amused,  and  are  very  prompt  to  laugh  at  any  tol- 
erable joke  that  is  offered,  but  they  know  at  the 
same  time  that  they  come  to  the  school  for  no  such 
purpose,  and  they  will  give  respectful  attention  to 
any  stranger  who  gives  them  plain,  brief,  well-con- 
sidered counsels  concerning. the  best  means  of  im- 
proving their  advantages  as  scholars. 

The  anniversary  will  be  a  dull  affair  without  some 
good  singing.  By  this  I  do  not  mean  that  the  choir 
should  get  up  some  high-wrought,  artistic  music. 
The  music  wanted  for  the  anniversary  is  Sunday- 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  353 

school  music — whole-souled,  sweet-voiced  singing 
by  the  entire  school.  Five  or  six  pieces  are  needed 
of  an  animated  sort,  and  the  school  should  be  well 
and  thoroughly  drilled  on  them  for  some  weeks  in 
advance. 

There  should  be  a  printed  programme  of  the  exer- 
cises to  be  distributed  among  the  audience  as  well  as 
in  the  school,  and  the  hymns  to  be  sung  should  be 
printed  on  the  programme,  so  that  all  may  join  in 
the  singing. 

It  is  customary  in  many  schools  to  give  Bibles, 
Testaments,  hymn-books,  and  other  rewards  of  this 
kind  to  pupils  who  have  recited  the  catechism  or 
certain  portions  of  Scripture,  or  have  been  specially 
meritorious  in  other  respects.  Soinetimes  a  book  or 
other  present  is  given  to  every  scholar  who  is  a  reg- 
ular member  of  the  school.  This  whole  matter  of 
making  presents  to  the  children,  besides  the  heavy 
expense  it  occasions,  has  other  serious  drawbacks, 
and  needs  extreme  caution.  Kindness,  good  will, 
liberality,  shown  to  the  children,  are  all  very  w^ell ; 
but  let  us  do  nothinsf  that  looks  like  bribinor  them  to 
attend.  A  gift  is  not  the  only  way  to  the  heart  of  a 
child.  The  distribution  of  presents  is  not  the  only 
way  of  making  the  anniversary  interesting  and  pleas- 
ant to  the  children  ;  on  the  contrary,  it  often  pro- 
duces heart-burnings,  jealousies  and  discontent.  A 
pretty  certificate  of  membership  or  of  attendance, 
neatly  printed  in  colors  and  awarded  publicly  to  all 
who  during  the  year  have  complied  with  the  condi- 
30 »  X 


354  MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS. 

tions,  is  inexpensive,  and  forms  an  agreeable  item  in 
the  proceedings  of  the  anniversary.  Bibles,  Testa- 
ments, etc.,  awarded  in  a  like  way  to  all  who  have 
accomplished  certain  required  studies  of  the  school, 
form  another  item  to  whicii  there  can  be  no  reason- 
able objection,  but  beyond  this  there  is  need  of  ver^r 
great  caution.  Greater  latitude  of  course  is  proper 
in  mission  schools  than  in  church  schools. 

Shall  there  be  in  the  anniversary  any  performances 
by  the  children  } 

Why  not?  Is  not  child-nature  the  same  on  Sun- 
day that  it  is  on  other  days.-*  I  would  not  get  up 
dialogues  and  debates  and  declamations  as  in  the 
weekday  exhibition.  But  there  are  certain  things 
which  can  be  done  by  the  children  at  the  anniversary 
that  will  be  perfectly  in  keeping  with  the  occasion, 
and  that  will  add  greatly  to  the  interest.  Suppose 
thirty  young  girls,  say  about  ten  years  old,  rise  in  a 
semicircle  on  the  platform  in  front  and  repeat  in  per- 
fect concert  the  twenty-third  Psalm,  not  missing  a 
word,  and  as  many  boys  immediately  thereafter  re- 
peat in  the  same  way  the  Beatitudes.  The  whole 
performance  occupies  less  than  five  minutes,  yet  it 
has  given  to  those  sixty  performers  and  to  their  five 
times  sixty  friends  in  the  congregation  a  lively  interest 
in  the  occasion  ;  besides  that,  the  preparation  for  it 
has  engraved  indelibly  on  their  minds  a  precious 
portion  of  God's  word. 

But  I  have  not  the  space  to  enlarge.  Suffice  it  to 
%ay  that   in   my   opinion    recitations  of  portions  of 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  355 

Scripture  and  of  hymns  by  the  scholars,  either  singly 
or  in  groups,  form  a  valuable  part  of  the  proceedings 
of  the  anniversary,  and  just  that  part  that  will  most 
surely  bring  out  a  full  house. 

In  seating  the  children  for  the  anniversary  always 
put  the  smaller  children  in  front,  near  the  pulpit. 
See  that  the  pews  occupied  by  the  young  children 
are  supplied  with  high  benches  on  which  their  feet 
may  rest.  Nothing  is  more  common  than  for  the 
exercises  to  be  disturbed  by  a  continual  knocking  of 
little  heels  against  the  seat  of  the  pew,  and  the  su- 
perintendent gets  up  and  berates  the  children  for 
"kicking"  and  "making  a  noise,"  whereas  the  noise 
is  no  fault  of  theirs.  The  pew  seats  are  made  to  suit 
grown  people,  and  when  little  shavers  five  or  six 
years  old  sit  in  them,  their  legs  hang  dangling  in  the 
air  in  a  manner  that  is  painful  to  them,  and  that  ne- 
cessarily leads  to  the  distracting  noise  spoken  of. 

4.    Closing  Schools  in    IVinter. 

The  Sunday-school  is  subject  to  two  evils,  of  a 
kind  exactly  the  opposite  of  each  other,  yet  alike  in 
their  pernicious  eflects.  City  schools  are  very  gener- 
ally closed  for  a  douple  of  months  in  midsummer, 
country  schools  for  a  like,  sometimes  even  for  a 
longer,  period  in  winter.  This  latter  practice  is  not 
perhaps  as  general  as  the  other.  But  where  it  does 
prevail,  the  habit  is  usually  inveterate,  and  it  re- 
quires no  little  resolution  and  energy  to  break  it  up. 
In  many  neighborhoods  in  the  country,  it  is  assumed 


35^  MISCELLANEOUS   TOPICS. 

as  a  thing  certain,  and  not  to  be  called  in  question, 
that  the  Sunday-school  cannot  be  maintained  in 
winter.  The  people  would  as  soon  expect  to  raise 
a  crop  of  corn  or  of  peaches  in  winter  as  to  keep 
the  Sunda3'-school  open.  They  expect,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  to  close  it  about  the  middle  of  November, 
and  not  to  open  it  again  until  spring. 

How  this  practice  originated  it  is  difficult  to  say. 
Perhaps  it  was  in  those  old  times,  which  some  of  us 
can  remember,  when  the  churches  were  not  warmed 
in  winter,  and  when  consequently  there  would  be 
some  practical  inconveniences  in  holding  the  school. 
This  cause,  at  least,  no  longer  exists.  The  rooms 
where  the  school  is  held  may  be  made  as  comfort- 
able in  winter  as  at  any  other  season.  For  that 
matter,  indeed,  the  school-room  may  be  made  more 
comfortable  in  midwinter  than  in  midsummer.  It 
may  be  warmed  in  the  coldest  weather,  but  it  can- 
not always  be  cooled  in  the  heats  of  July. 

Will  not  the  teachers  and  superintendents  and 
other  Christian  people,  in  those  districts  where  this 
periodical  Sunday-school  hibernation  takes  place, 
give  the  subject  a  respectful  reconsideration?  Is 
there  any  valid  reason  why  the  schools  should  be  thus 
closed  for  three  or  four  months  in  the  year?  The 
church  is  not  closed  in  winter,  why  should  the  school 
be  ?  The  weekday-school  is  not  closed,  why  close  the 
Sunday-school  ?  The  children  can  go  out  to  skate, 
and  ride  down  hill,  and  build  snow-forts,  from  Mon- 
day to   Saturday  ;   how  is  it  that  they  become  all  at 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  357 

once  so  delicate  and  tender  on  Sunday  morning? 
Winter  in  the  country  is  the  season  above  all  others 
when  social  gatherings  of  all  kinds  are  opportune 
and  rife  ;  why  should  the  weekly  gathering  of  the 
children  in  their  loved  Sunday-school  be  the  only 
exception? 

There  are  weighty  reasons,  physiological,-  social 
and  domestic,  why  a  country  Sunday-school  should 
be  maintained  in  winter  more  than  in  any  other  sea- 
son of  the  year.  In  the  long  winter  evenings  in  the 
country  there  is  more  leisure  for  study  and  for  pre- 
paring lessons  than  at  other  times.  The  teachers 
of  country  Sunday-schools  have  then  more  time 
upon  their  hands,  particularly  the  male  teachers,  and 
can  with  less  sacrifice  of  business  engagements  pre- 
pare themselves  for  theiK  Sunday  duties.  Farmers 
have  winter  work,  it  is  true,  but  it  is  not  so  pressing 
and  imperious  in  its  demands  as  the  work  of  "  seed- 
time and  harvest."  Then  there  is  no  time  when 
mental  operations  are  so  vigorous,  when  the  busi- 
ness of  learning  and  teaching  can  be  conducted  with 
so  much  efiect,  as  in  the  crisp,  frosty  days  of  winter. 
The  cold  is  a  mighty  tonic  both  to  the  mind  and  the 
body. 

So  well  is  this  physiological  fact  understood  that 
all  institutions  of  learning  the  world  -over  have 
their  main  season  of  study  in  the  winter.  Is  there 
anything  in  religious  truth  that  should  make  its 
study  particularly  suitable  to  the  sultry  and  relaxing 
heats  of  July  and  August?     Why  should  the  chi'- 


358  MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS. 

dren   of  this  world  be   more  wise   in   such   matters 
than  the  children  of  light? 

One  thing  which  gives  the  argument  special  point 
is  that  in  very  many  country  districts  the  Sunday- 
school  is  kept  in  the  same  building  in  which  the 
weekday-school  is  kept — that  is,  in  the  district  school- 
house.  If,  in  any  of  these  districts,  the  common 
.  school  is  not  kept  up  all  the  year  round,  the  time 
selected  for  keeping  it  is  always  the  winter,  as  being 
the  best  seasoii  for  school  purposes ;  and  the  strange 
anomaly  is  often  seen  of  the  school-house  being  open 
all  the  rest  of  the  week  for  the  weekday-school,  but 
closed  on  the  Sabbath  because  then  it  is  too  cold  for 
the  children — those  children,  too,  being  the  very 
same  boys  and  girls  who  have  been  going  there  all 
the  rest  of  the  week ! 

When  a  custom  like  this  has  long  prevailed  in  a 
neighborhood,  there  is  always  a  certain  amount  of 
vis  inerticB  to  be  overcome  before  a  change  can  be 
brought  about.  But  it  will  yield,  nevertheless,  to 
persistent  pressure.  All  that  it  requires  in  any  par- 
ticular case  is  one  resolute  mind.  Let  there  be  but 
one  teacher  who  will  make  up  his  mind  to  go  right 
on  witli  his  own  class  through  the  winter,  whether 
others  do  or  not,  and  he  will  be  surprised  to  see  how 
many,  both' of  teachers  and  scholars,  will  follow  his 
example. 

If  these  paragraphs  meet  the  eye  of  any  teacher  so 
circumstanced,  I  hope  that  he  will  not  dismiss  the 
subject  lightly,  but  that  he  will  weigh  well  the  re- 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  359 

sponsibility  of  continuing  a  practice  so  entirely  un- 
reasonable and  so  fraught  with  evil. 

5.    Closing  Schools   in    Summer. 

Midsummer  is  a  hard  time  of  the  year  for  city 
superintendents.  From  the  first  of  June  the  exodus 
of  teachers  begins,  and  by  the  first  of  August  less 
than  one-half  of  the  regular  corps  of  laborers  are  to 
be  found  at  their  posts.  In  many  large  city  schools 
more  than  three-fourths  of  the  most  efficient  teachers 
are  absent  from  the  city  from  one  to  three  months  in 
midsummer.  I  do  not  blame  them  for  going.  The 
strain  upon  the  vital  energies,  caused  by  the  present 
methods  of  city  life,  makes  this  annual  period  of 
relaxation  an  imperative  necessity  to  such  people  as 
constitute  the  mass  of  our  Sunday-school  laborers. 
They  have  no  choice  but  to  get  this  annual  relief, 
or  to  abridge,  if  not  abruptly  to  terminate,  their  ac- 
tive usefulness.  But  this  does  not  make  the  case 
any  the  easier  to  the  superintendent.  The  great 
mass  of  the  children,  particularly  in  schools  which 
partake  at  all  of  a  missionary  character,  remain  in 
the  city.  They  are  on  his  hands  to  be  cared  for,  and 
the  burden  is  not  light.  It  is  not  an  infrequent  ex- 
perience for  a  city  superintendent,  in  midsummer,  to 
meet  in  his  school- room  from  two  to  three  hundred 
children,  and  not  more, than  half  a  dozen  of  his 
regular  teachers.  I  have  myself,  on  occasion,  had 
two  hundred  children  on  my  hands,  and  not  one 
regular  teacher,  the  few  laborers  who  were  present 


360  MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS. 

to  help,  being  special  aids  picked  up  for  the  day 
wherever  they  could  be  found.  Such  a  state  of 
things  needs  remedy,  if  it  can  be  had. 

Many  superintendents,  in  view  of  the  difficulties 
of  the  case,  suspend  their  schools  entirely  during 
July  and  August.  Some  schools  are  suspended  for 
a  period  of  three  months.  This  shifts  the  difficulty 
without  removing  it.  The  real  difficulty  is  that 
nine-tenths  of  those  children  who  most  need  the  re- 
ligious instruction  of  the  Sunday-school  do  not 
leave  the  city.  During  the  time  that  the  school  is 
disbanded  they  mostly  wander  about  the  streets,  un- 
learning the  good  they  have  received,  and  receiving 
on  the  other  hand  lessons  in  irreligion.  Sabbath- 
breaking  and  vice  ;  and  when  the  time  for  reopen- 
ing the  school  has  come,  it  requires  several  weeks 
of  industrious  visitation  on  the  part  of  the  teachers 
to  reclaim  all  these  youthful  stragglers  and  bring 
them  once  more  into  orderly  habits  and  regular  at- 
tendance. A  school  that  is  disbanded  in  the  close 
of  June  will  not  be  brought  to  full  working  order 
before  October.  One-fourth  of  the  year  is  lost. 
More  than  this :  the  cultivator  finds  that  there  has 
been  in  the  mean  while  a  rank  growth  of  weeds 
which  it  will  require  time  and  toil  to  extirpate.  The 
garden  is  not  found  as  it  was  left.  The  fences  are  out 
of  repair.  The  evil  seed  always  present  in  the  soil 
has  grown  apace.  The  good  seed  unprotected  has 
been  choked. 

I  do  not  advise,  therefore,  the  closing  of  our  city 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  361 

schools  in  midsummer.  There  are,  indeed,  evils 
attending  the  keeping  of  them  together.  But  the 
evils  of  suspending  the  schools  are  still  greater. 
Let  superintendents  then  keep  up  their  organization 
all  the  year  round,  if  possible,  and  meet  the  exigen- 
cies of  the  summer  season  in  the  best  way  they 
can. 

Where  nothing  better  can  be  done,  the  exercises 
of  the  school  may  be  changed.  The  regular  studies 
may  be  suspended  until  the  return  of  the  regular 
teachers,  and  a  course  of  special  studies  and  exer- 
cises be  introduced.  More  of  the  time  than  usual 
may  be  occupied  in  addresses  and  instructions  to  the 
whole  school  from  the  superintendent's  desk.  The 
temporary  teachers,  so  called,  are  often  quite  incom- 
petent to  give  instruction.  But  they  can  keep  the 
classes  together  and  keep  them  in  order  while  the 
superintendent,  or  some  one  from  his  desk  equally 
competent,  addresses  the  whole  school.  There  are 
many  special  topics  that  are  never  devoid  of  interest 
which  may  well  occupy  the  attention  of  the  school 
on  such  occasions.  The  evils  of  drunkenness,  of 
swearing,  of  vSabbath-breaking,  may  be  dwelt  upon, 
the  person  who  addresses  the  school  having  prepared 
himself  with  instructive  and  interesting  facts  suitable 
to  the  character  of  his  audience.  Another  fruitful 
topic  for  instruction  on  such  occasions  is  the  work 
of  Christian  missions.  Often  a  foreign  missionary 
may  be  present,  and  a  narrative  by  him  of  what  he 
has  seen  among  the  heathen  will  greatly  interest  the 
31 


362  MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS, 

children.  Where  a  missionary  is  not  to  be  had, 
suitable  reading  and  preparation  on  the  part  of  the 
superintendent  or  speaker  will  enable  him  to  gather 
facts  in  regard  to  the  missionary  work  that  will  be 
equally  valuable.  But  besides  missionary  addresses 
and  addresses  on  other  special  subjects,  the  Bible  is 
full  of  topics.  A  parable  may  be  expounded.  The 
biography  of  some  Bible  hero  may  be  sketched.  If 
the  superintendent  has  no  particular  skill  in  such  ad- 
dresses, he  might  read  a  portion  of  one  of  those  ad- 
mirable children's  sermons  that  have  been  prepared 
by  Dr.  Newton,  Dr.  Todd  and  others. 

A  part  of  the  Sunday-school  machinery  that  should 
be  kept  specially  active  in  the  summer  months  is  the 
library.  Some  schools  take  this  occasion  to  close 
the  library.  There  could  hardly  be  a  greater  mis- 
take. Doubtless  there  will  be  during  this  interval 
some  irregularities  and  some  loss  of  books.  But  re- 
member, it  is  not  the  main  object  of  the  library  to 
preserve  the  books,  as  some  librarians  seem  to  think, 
but  to  do  with  them  the  greatest  amount  of  good. 
I  would  not  discourage  a  faithful  librarian  in  his 
efforts  to  lessen  the  loss  and  waste  of  books  that  take 
place.  But  in  the  summer-time,  when  the  regular 
teachers  are  absent  and  the  ordinary  course  of  in- 
struction is  very  much  interrupted,  the  use  of  the 
library  is  needed  more  than  at  any  other  season  to 
sujDplement  the  teaching  and  to  keep  the  school  to- 
gether ;  and  if  the  keeping  of  the  library  open  during 
this  season  of  general  irregularity  does  occasion  the 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  363 

loss  of  a  few  volumes,  the  end  is  important  enough 
to  justify  the  expenditure. 

What  is  true  of  books  is  equally  true  of  Sunday- 
school  papers.  During  the  summer  months,  if  dur- 
ing no  other  season  of  the  year,  the  superintendent 
should  be  prepared  evei-y  Sunday  to  give  each  scholar 
an  attractive  paper.  Most  of  these  papers  are  pub- 
lished only  monthly.  But  there  are  now  so  many  of 
them  that  there  need  be  no  difficulty  in  having  one 
for  each  week.  He  might  give  them,  for  instance, 
the  Child  at  Home  on  the  first  Sunday  in  the  month, 
the  Child's  Paper  on  the  second,  the  Child's  World 
on  the  third,  and  so  on.  Some  schools  do  thus  sup- 
ply their  children  with  a  paper  every  week  all  the 
year  round  ;  ordinarily,  however,  a  paper  is  distrib- 
uted only  once  a  month.  What  I  now  urge  is  that 
during  the  two  or  three  months  of  summer  when 
the  regular  course  of  study  is  so  much  interrupted 
the  superintendent  should  make  arrangements  to 
distribute  a  paper  every  Sunday. 

The  burden  of  providing  temporary  teachers  for 
the  summer  season  should  not  be  thrown  upon  the 
superintendent.  On  this  subject  there  is  a  degree  of 
thoughtlessness  and  inconsideration  on  the  part  of 
teachers  that  is  perfectly  amazing.  I  have  never 
been  disposed  to  censure  teachers  for  leaving  the  city 
during  the  hot  months  where  their  circumstances 
enabled  them  to  do  so,  but  to  go  away  for  two  or 
three  months  without  giving  any  thought  what  in 
the  mean  time  is  to  become  of  their  classes  is,  I  think, 


364  MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS. 

to  be  guilty  of  a  great  sin.  There  always  remain  in 
the  city  adult  members  of  the  church  enough  to  sup- 
ply all  the  classes  temporarily  with  teachers.  These 
persons  are  not,  perhaps,  thoroughly  competent ;  we 
would  not  choose  them  for  regular  teachers  ;  but  they 
are  better  than  none.  Some  of  them  have  engage- 
ments or  physical  infirmities  that  prevent  them  en- 
gaging as  teachers  all  the  year  round,  but  they  can 
safely  engage  for  a  few  weeks.  Now,  to  hunt  up 
such  persons  and  secure  their  services  and  make  all 
the  necessary  arrangements  and  explanations  re- 
quire time  and  labor,  but  this  time  and  labor  each 
teacher  should  religiously  give.  It  should  be  a  part 
of  his  regular  preparation  for  leaving  town.  Each 
teacher,  having  only  his  own  class  to  provide  for,  may 
without  difficulty  do  it.  But  when  it  is  all  thrown 
upon  the  superintendent,  and  he  alone  has  to  furnish 
substitutes  for  twenty-five  or  thirty  teachers,  it  be- 
comes a  labor  of  Hercules.  The  teacher,  in  making 
provision  for  his  or  her  class,  should  of  course  con- 
fer with  the  superintendent ;  but  this  is  very  differ- 
ent from  throwing  upon  him  the  whole  burden  of 
the  arrangement.  The  teacher  who  leaves  the  city 
for  the  summer  without  having  fairly  tried  to  provide 
a  substitute  is  just  as  guilty  as  the  physician  who 
without  notice  should  leave  a  patient  dangerously  ill 
and  go  off  to  Long  Branch  or  Saratoga.  The  charge 
of  souls  is  not  the  less  a  serious  responsibility  because 
no  pecuniary  reward  is  involved  in  its  observance  01 
neglect. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS  365 

6,  After  Vacation. 

A  large  number  of  Sunday-schools,  particularly 
those  in  cities,  are  virtually  disbanded  in  midsummer. 
The  teachers  and  many  of  the  scholars  leave  town 
for  recreation  and  health,  and  the  classes  are  depleted 
and  disorganized  where  not  actually  disbanded. 
When  the  first  of  September  comes,  few  schools  in 
our  large  cities  are  to  be  found  in  active  operation. 
I  am  not  going  to  argue  the  question  now  whether 
or  not  this  is  a  bad  state  of  things  and  one  admitting 
a  remedy,  but  taking  the  fact  as  I  find  it,  I  wish  to 
address  a  word  of  exhortation  to  superintendents  and 
teachers. 

This  is  the  season  for  a  fresh,  vigorous,  decided 
effort.  You  have  come  back  to  your  homes  strength- 
ened and  rested.  Qiiite  possibly  in  your  summer 
rambles  or  reading  you  hflve  met  with  books  or  peo- 
ple that  have  given  you  new  ideas  in  regard  to  your 
work  ;  you  have  seen  and  heard  many  things  likely 
to  interest  your  scholars ;  your  mind  is  full,  your 
pulse  beats  healthily  ;  your  scholars,  whether  they 
have  remained  at  home  or  whether  like  yourself  they 
have  been  travelling,  are  all  just  in  that  condition  in 
which  they  will  be  glad  to  resume  their  old  places 
and  studies  in  school.  Do  not  make  the  mistake  of 
many,  and  let  these  genial  influences  all  die  out.  Do 
not  leave  matters  to  readjust  themselves  gradually 
and  slowly  in  the  course  of  the  autumn,  but-imake  a 
bold,  prompt  push  the  very  first  week  you  return  to 
31  * 


366  MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS. 

the  city.  You  will  find  it  operating  powerfully  in 
favor  of  your  class  and  your  school.  Scholars  who 
are  neglected  at  such  a  season  by  the  teachers  of 
their  own  schools  stray  oft'  into  other  schools  that 
are  more  active,  or  stray  off"  from  school  altogether. 
A  superintendent  or  a  teacher  who  is  in  his  place  by 
the  first  of  September  should  not  be  content  to  let 
matters  drift  on  easily  and  composedly  until  the  first 
of  October.  Determine  to  have  a  full  school  at  once. 
Let  every  teacher  the  very  first  week  of  his  return  to 
town  visit  every  scholar  on  his  roll ;  it  is  an  excellent 
way  of  beginning  the  fall  campaign.  A  thorough 
general  visitation  on  the  part  of  all  our  teachers  on  the 
first  week  of  September  would  in  many  cases  double 
the  results  of  the  year's  work.  Many  a  school,  many 
a  class,  instead  of  continuing  to  be  a  drag  for  months, 
would  start  out  with  full,  fresh  energies  from  the 
first.  • 

Nor  should  teachers  confine  their  visits  and  inqui- 
ries to  their  own  scholars.  During  the  summer 
many  changes  have  occurred.  Other  families  have 
come  into  the  neighborhood.  The  season  is  one 
especially  favorable  for  getting  new  recruits.  There 
are  few  schools  that  might  not  add  fifty  per  cent 
to  their  numbers  if  on  the  first  week  of  September 
their  entire  corps  of  teachers  would  sally  out,  and 
while  calling  on  all  their  own  scholars  make  inqui- 
ries as  they  went  for  new  ones.  Is  it  not  worth  a 
trial  ?  ,If  concerted  action  in  any  particular  case 
cannot  be  obtained,  let  each  one  try  the  experiment 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  367 

individually.  Let  each  teacher  for  himself  deter- 
mine to  signalize  the  first  week  of  his  return  to  town 
by  calling  on  every  scholar  of  his  class,  and  by  a 
bold,  resolute  effort  to  win  new  recruits.  How  pleas- 
ant, how  refreshing,  to  enter  your  school-room  the 
first  Sunday  after  your  return  and  see  your  own  little 
circle  of  bright  faces  all  complete,  besides  a  goodly 
outside  circle  of  new-comers  drawn  within  the  pre- 
cious place  by  your  own  kindly  influence  and  solicit- 
ations !  Could  you  in  any  way  make  a  more  suit- 
able return  for  the  goodness  and  the  gracious  protec- 
tion which  you  have  experienced  during  the  late 
season  of  repose  and  recreation  ? 

The  most  beautiful  natural  phenomenon  that  I  ever 
witnessed  was  seen  one  summer  afternoon  at  the 
Profile  House,  among  the  White  Mountains  of  New 
Hampshire.  It  was  a  rainbow  stretching  across  in 
front  of  that  perpendicular  wall  of  rock  which  stands 
directly  before  the  hotel.  The  huge  background  of 
rock  brought  the  rainbow^  so  near  to  the  spectators 
at  the  hotel  that  we  could  see  the  separate  drops  of 
rain  as  they  glittered,  millions  of  sparkling  diamonds, 
softly  descending  through  a  mist  of  radiant  gold. 
Not  only  was  every  color  of  the  rainbow  marked 
with  a  distinctness  and  perfection  of  which  the  spec- 
tators had  before  never  witnessed  any  parallel,  but 
the  bow  itself  was  complete  through  its  entire  semi- 
circle, without  a  break  or  a  faintness  even,  from  end 
to  end.  More  than  this.  The  reflected  or  secondary 
bow  seen  outside  the  other,  though  not  so  brilliant  as 


3^8  MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS. 

the  primary  phenomenon,  was  yet  equally  full  arid 
complete  in  its  every  part. 

Not  less  beautiful  than  this  crown  and  glory  of  Na- 
ture's loveliness  will  be  that  Sunday-school  class 
which  on  its  first  reassembling  in  September  shall 
present  to  the  eye  of  its  teacher  and  its  superintend- 
ent a  circle  equally  complete,  with  at  the  same  time 
its  full-orbed  complement  of  new  recruits  standing 
round  the  inner  circle  as  a  halo  of  reflected  but  ever 
growing  glory.  Who  will  show  such  a  phenome- 
non in  his  school  on  the  first  Sunday  after  his  next 
vacation  }     Will  you .? 

7.  JVew  Scholars. 

The  Sunday-school  is  often  called  a  garden.  The 
comparison  is  as  suggestive  as  it  is  beautiful.  No- 
tice the  care  bestowed  by  a  skilful  gardener  upon  a 
plant  that  has  just  been  taken  from  some  other  soil 
and  replanted  in  his  garden.  How  particular  he  is 
to  see  that  the  ground  where  he  places  it  is  properly 
prepared  and  just  of  the  right  kind  ;  that  every  little 
rootlet  and  fibre  shall  come  into  contact  with  some 
portion  of  warm,  nourishing  earth  ;  that  the  soil  shall 
be  loosened  deep  enough  and  wide  enough  to  allow 
and  invite  the  roots  to  send  out  their  taps  freely  in 
whatever  direction  the  nature  of  the  plant  inclines  it 
to  grow  !  How  promptly  he  removes  from  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  young  stranger  any  weeds  or  plants 
that  may  be  likely  to  hinder  its  growth  and  prevent 
its  forming  a  strong  and   healthy  attachment  to  the 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  369 

soil !  With  what  watchfulness  he  sees  the  first  indi- 
cations of  sickliness  or  drooping,  watering  it  in 
drought  and  giving  it  his  daily  care  and  attention, 
until  its  every  leaf  and  limb  shows  that  it  has  firm 
possession  of  the  soil ! 

With  equal  care  should  the  teacher  and  superin- 
tendent watch  and  nurture  the  child  just  transplanted 
into  the  Sunday-school  garden.  The  new  scholar 
requires  for  a  time  twice  or  three  times  the  attention 
given  to  the  others.  The  superintendent  in  the  first 
place  should  see  to  it  that  the  child  is  placed  in  the 
class  best  suited  to  its  wants.  The  gardener  would 
not  plant  a  rose  in  the  same  position  in  which  he 
would  put  an  ivy.  The  different  classes  in  school 
are  so  many  garden-beds,  each  suited  by  the  varying 
circumstances  of  sun  and  shade,  light,  heat  and  ex- 
posure, for  a  particular  kind  of  plant.  When  the 
gardener  receives  from  abroad  some  new  and  curious 
specimen,  he  does  not  at  once  set  it  out  into  the  first 
vacant  piece  of  ground  he  finds,  but  he  sets  himself 
to  work  to  study  the  nature  of  the  plant,  makes  him- 
self acquainted  with  its  habits  and  wants,  and  then 
places  it  intelligently  where  it  will  be  most  likely  to 
thrive.  It  is  no  sufficient  reason  for  the  superintend- 
ent to  place  the  new-comer  into  Miss  Smith's  class 
that  Miss  Smith's  class  is  nearly  empty  and  there  is 
plenty  of  room  for  him  there.  The  first  duty  that 
the  superintendent  owes  to  the  new  scholar  is  to  get 
acquainted  with  him,  to  find  out  something  about 
him,  before  selecting  for  him  his  school  companion- 
Y 


370  MISCELLANEOUS   TOPICS. 

ship  and  his  caretaker.  The  opportunities  which 
the  superintendent  has  for  making  this  acquaintance- 
ship are  few.  But  that  is  only  a  stronger  reason 
why  he  should  use  more  carefully  the  opportunities 
which  he  has.  In  a  well-ordered  school,  when  a 
scholar  is  registered,  questions  are  asked  as  to  his 
age,  residence,  the  name  and  occupation  of  his  pa- 
rents, and  so  forth.  All  these  items  help  the  super- 
intendent who  is  wide  awake  in  forming  an  estimate 
as  to  the  social  circumstances  which  surround  the 
child.  He  learns  the  nature  of  the  soil  from  which 
the  plant  has  been  taken.  A  new  scholar  is  usually 
introduced  by  some  teacher  or  Sunday-school  worker 
who  has  found  him  and  visited  him  at  his  home,  or 
perhaps  by  some  one  of  the  other  scholars.  The  su- 
perintendent should  not  fail  in  such  case — which  is 
almost  every  case — to  exhaust  this  additional  source 
of  information.  He  may  thus  usually  learn  all  about 
the  external  relations  and  condition  of  the  child. 
Before  placing  a  new  pupil  into  a  class  the  superin- 
tendent needs  to  know  something  of  his  mental  ca- 
pacity and  attainments ;  he  must,  therefore,  make 
an  examination  more  or  less  formal.  In  nothing  is 
there  greater  room  for  tact  and  skill  than  in  this.  At 
the  idea  of  being  examined  on  admission  to  a  Sun- 
day-school a  proud  child  becomes  restive,  a  sensitive 
child  shy  and  embarrassed,  one  overgrown  and  awk- 
ward very  likely  revolts  or  is  sullen.  The  superin- 
tendent must  know  how  to  examine  without  any  ap- 
pearance of  an  examination.     He  gets  the  child  to 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  37 1 

read  a  little,  and  has  a  little  conversation  about  what 
is  read  or  about  any  topic  that  may  be  suggested,  he 
all  the  while  gauging  the  child's  mind.  Thus,  by 
one  means  and  another,  the  superintendent  endeav- 
ors to  find  out  where  to  place  the  new  pupil  so  that 
he  will  be  under  influences  most  congenial  and  most 
suited  to  his  particular  case. 

The  proper  placing  of  new  scholars  on  their  ad- 
mission into  school  is  one  of  the  most  difficult,  as  it 
is  one  of  the  most  important,  functions  of  the  superin- 
tendent's office.  Yet  I  have  seen  superintendents 
of  no  mean  ability  in  other  respects  who  in  this 
matter  were  utterly  deficient,  who  on  receiving  a 
new  pupil  seemed  to  think  their  only  business  was 
to  fill  up  certain  classes  that  had  become  small  and 
weak ;  and  I  have  not  been  surprised  in  such  cases 
to  notice  that,  however  great  the  number  of  new  re- 
cruits, the  school  never  seemed  to  make  any  perma- 
nent growth.  I  have  known  schools  in  which  there 
was  an  average  of  four  or  five  new  scholars  every 
Sunday,  and  yet  at  the  end  of  the  season  the  general 
attendance  was  no  greater  than  at  the  beginning.  It 
was  pouring  water  into  a  sieve.  The  new  plants 
had  been  put  into  uncongenial  soil,  and  after  a  brief 
and  sickly  growth  had  died  out.  Such  is  the  his- 
tory of  a  great  deal  of  the  missionary  work  that  is 
done  to  extend  the  benefits  of  the  Sunday-school. 

Having  selected  a  class  and  a  teacher  according 
to  the  best  judgment  he  could  form  of  the  case,  the 
superintendent  should  then   in   all  cases  communi* 


372  MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS. 

cate  privately  to  the  teacher  all  the  information 
obtained  in  regard  to  the  child.  Without  this 
knowledge  the  teacher  may  make  mistakes  still 
more  mischievous  than  those  of  the  superintendent. 
In  acting  upon  this  knowledge,  and  in  attempting  to 
get  upon  a  more  intimate  and  confidential  footing 
with  the  stranger,  the  teacher  should  not  rush  upon 
him  with  sudden  and  overpowering  attention,  as  is 
the  manner  of  some.  A  child  is  to  be  approached 
very  much  as  you  would  approach  a  horse — quietly, 
and  by  giving  it  opportunity  for  observation.  Of 
course  you  will  speak  to  the  child  when  introduced, 
and  show  him  some  little  civility.  But  to  press  your 
attentions  upon  him  so  as  to  make  him  the  con- 
tinued centre  of  observation  is  embarrassing,  and 
leads  him  to  be  reserved.  Better  let  the  exercises 
of  the  class  run  on  in  their  accustomed  course  until 
the  scene  becomes  familiar  to  him  and  he  begins  to 
feel  a  little  at  home,  and  to  feel  an  interest  in  what 
is  going  on,  before  you  question  him  much  person- 
ally. A  moment's  conversation  with  him  at  the 
close  of  the  school,  after  the  other  scholars  are  dis- 
missed, will  often  be  of  service.  Nothing  is  of  so 
much  importance,  however,  in  setting  the  teacher 
upon  a  right  footing  with  a  new  scholar,  as  visiting 
him  at  his  own  home.  This  visit  should  be  made 
by  the  teacher  the  very  first  week,  if  possible,  after 
a  child  is  introduced.  Such  a  visit  is  an  act  of  kind- 
ness that  is  always  appreciated.  It  places  you  at 
once  in  your  right  relation  to  him  as  a  friend  and 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  373 

acquaintance,  and  enables  you  in  the  class  to  accom- 
modate yourself  to  whatever  is  peculiar  in  him. 

Children  are  more  influenced  by  each  other  than 
they  are  by  their  teachers  or  those  much  older  than 
themselves.  The  companionship  selected  for  the 
new  scholar  is  therefore  a  most  important  item.  It 
is  in  fact  the  soil  into  which  the  new  plant  is  set. 
If  it  has  been  wisely  chosen  and  the  classmates 
among  whom  he  is  placed  are  congenial,  he  will  not 
find  much  difficulty  in  getting  acquainted.  Yet 
even  here,  so  important  is  this  matter,  the  teacher 
should  not  leave  it  to  chance.  Let  him  see  to  it  that 
the  little  stranger  ceases  from  the  very  first  day  to  be 
a  stranger.  The  teacher  who  has  any  tact  at  all 
will  find  opportunity,  before  the  hour  is  over,  to 
make  him  acquainted  with  some  of  his  young  com- 
panions, and  will  select  for  the  purpose  those  that 
will  be  likely  to  make  the  most  agreeable  impres- 
sion. It  is  very  chilling  to  a  young  heart,  on  the 
first  day  of  one's  admission  to  a  large  school,  to 
walk  home  alone.  Some  teachers  perhaps  may 
think  these  things  of  small  importance,  unworthy  of 
such  grave  consideration.  If  so,  I  have  only  to  say, 
their  experience  has  been  very  difterent  from  mine. 
The  impression  made  upon  the  mind  of  a  child  on 
first  entering  a  Sunday-school  often  determines  the 
question  of  his  return  to  it.  It  should  be  the  study 
of  all  concerned — superintendent,  teacher  and  class- 
mates— to  make  him  feel  that  it  is  a  pleasant  place, 
where  he  will  find  friends  and  meet  with  kindness, 
32 


3/4  MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS. 

and   where    hearts   are  .beating    in    sympath}^   with 
his  own. 

Care,  in  short,  in  the  treatment  of  new  scholars  is 
quite  as  important  as  zeal  in  hunting  them  up. 

8.  Absenteeism. 

It  is  necessary  that  some  distinct  provision  should 
be  made  in  relation  to  the  absence  of  scholars.  Ab- 
senteeism, or  irregularity  of  attendance,  is  the  weak 
point  in  the  Sunday-school  system.  It  is  impossible 
that  a  scholar  should  be  making  any  distinct  prog- 
ress in  religious  knowledge,  or  gaining  substantial 
benefit  of  any  kind,  so  long  as  he  comes  or  stays 
away,  according  to  the  caprice  of  the  hour.  Such 
scholars  get  no  good  themselves,  and  they  hurt  the 
cause  by  giving  occasion  to  opponents  to  say,  "  See 
how  little  comes  of  your  Sunday-school  labors !" 
Now,  in  my  opinion,  this  absenteeism  may  in  a 
great  measure  be  cured.  But  to  this  end  the  teach- 
ers must  take  hold  of  the  matter  resolutel3^  Let 
them  have  the  courage  to  resolve  that  in  every  case, 
without  exception,  where  a  scholar  is  absent,  he 
shall  be  visited  by  some  one  during  the  coming 
week.  If  his  own  teacher  is  so  situated  as  to  be  un- 
able to  make  this  visit,  let  it  be  done  by  some  one 
else.  But  in  all  cases  and  at  all  risks  the  visit  must 
be  made. 

This  brings  up  the  next  point  to  which  I  would 
advert,  and  that  is  the  necessity  of  teachers  visiting 
their  scholars.      On  this  point,  I  think,  there   is  a 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  375 

misapprehension  in  the  minds  of  some  conscientious 
and  most  excellent  teachers.  I  have  known  several 
instances  of  such  teachers,  who  really  desired  to  dis- 
charge this  duty,  and  had  no  disposition  to  shrink 
from  the  labor  involved  in  it,  but  were  deterred 
solely  by  a  mistaken  view  of  what  was  really  re- 
quired. If  any  pious  Sunday-school  teacher  has  the 
gifts  and  the  experience  necessary  to  visit  the  home 
of  a  scholar  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  it  a  direct 
means  of  spiritual  counsel  and  edification  to  the 
household,  if  he  has  the  gift  and  the  prompting  of 
heart,  while  visiting  a  member  of  his  class,  es- 
pecially if  it  be  in  a  home  where  God  is  not  honored 
by  the  heads  of  the  famil}^,  to  lift  up  his  voice  in 
prayer,  to  read  to  the  assembled  household  God's 
holy  word,  and  to  give  to  the  family,  or  to  any  mem- 
ber of  it,  spiritual  exhortation  and  advice, — I  bid  him 
Godspeed.  May  we  all  see  the  day  when  we  can 
do  this  wisely  and  profitably  !  But  there  is  much 
visiting  that  is  content  with  a  lowlier  aim  than  this, 
and  is  at  the  same  time  exceedingly  useful.  Go  to 
the  homes  of  your  children,  if  for  nothing  else,  that 
you  may  see  where  they  live,  and  how  they  live,  and 
the  influences  around  them — that  you  may  become 
acquainted  with  their  families,  and  make  them  feel 
that  you  have  some  interest  in  their  welfare.  Fear 
not  that  you  will  be  regarded  as  an  intruder.  1 
know  the  heart  of  the  parent,  and  I  know  that  noth- 
ing sooner  gladdens  a  father  or  a  mother  than  the 
face  of  one  who  has  the  charge  of  their  child.     Go 


37^  MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS. 

then  with  the  assurance  of  a  welcome.  Go,  too,  ex- 
pecting to  learn  something  valuable  yourself.  When 
you  return  from  a  friendly  conference  with  one  of 
3-our  scholars  at  his  own  home  and  with  his  parents 
and  family,  if  there  is  a  right  spirit  in  you,  you  will 
come  away  a  wiser  man  or  woman  than  you  went. 
You  will  know  better  than  you  ever  knew  before 
how  to  gain  the  attention  and  the  affections  of  your 
scholar.  You  will  see  better  than  you  have  ever 
seen  before  the  difficulties  that  were  in  your  path. 
More  than  all,  you  will  have  broken  down  the  wall 
of  partition  that  existed  between  you  and  your 
scholar,  and  you  will  have  established  a  bond  of 
sympathy  that  will  turn  teaching  from  a  drudgery  to 
a  delight. 

There  is  one  view  of  this  whole  subject  which 
often  presents  itself  with  great  force  to  my  own 
mind.  If  by  some  special  dispensation  it  could  be 
granted  to  you  to  see  personally  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  in  his  human  nature,  as  he  appeared  in  the 
synagogues  of  Judea  eighteen  hundred  years  ago, 
how  attentive  you  would  be  to  the  words  which  fell 
from  his  mouth  !  If  it  should  appear  that  he  was 
now  living  upon  the  earth,  and  that  he  was  desti- 
tute of  comfortable  apparel,  or  that  by  ftitigue  and 
want  of  food  he  was  in  a  suffering  condition,  how 
glad  and  honored  you  would  be  to  minister  to  his 
personal  comfort !  Suppose  it  could  be  certainly 
made  known  to  you  that  he  was  now  to  be  seen  in 
some   suburb  of  the   city  where   you    live — that   in 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  377 

some  dark  upper  room,  in  a  remote  alley,  he  lay 
sick  of  a  fever,  and  that  he  had  sent  to  your  school  a 
message  requesting  some  one  to  watch  with  him 
and  visit  him,  and  look  after  his  personal  wants — 
who  would  not  leap  for  joy  to  be  entrusted  with  the 
precious  mission?  Suppose  he  were  as  he  was  a 
few  years  after  his  birth  at  Bethlehem — a  child,  a 
poor  mechanic's  son — and  yet  it  were  certainly  de- 
clared to  you  that  this  poor,  obscure  child  were  the 
Lord  of  Glory  dwelling  in  flesh,  humbly  and  meekly, 
who  would  not  be  eager  to  have  that  child  in  his 
class,  to  visit  him  weekly,  to  look  after  him,  to  be 
kind  to  him,  to  clothe  him  if  he  were  naked,  to  feed 
him  if  he  were  hungry,  to  exercise  toward  him  all 
that  patience  and  forbearance  and  love  which  the 
weakness  and  dependence  of  childhood  require? 

Christian  friends,  where  is  our  faith  ?  Has  not 
Christ  expressly  taught  us  that  children  are  the  ob- 
jects of  his  special  care,  and  that  kindness  to  them 
is  kindness  to  hi?7i?  We  wrest  the  Scriptures  from 
their  plain  and  obvious  meaning  when  we  explain 
away  entirely  all  literal  application  of  those  remark- 
able passages  in  which  he  speaks  of  little  children. 
Undoubtedly,  we  are  to  love  and  honor  all,  of  every 
age,  who  have  a  childlike  and  Christian  temper.. 
But  our  Saviour  loved  not  merely  the  child///^^,  but 
children.  So  should  we.  Little  children,  as  such, 
are  objects  of  special  regard  to  our  dear  Redeemer  ; 
and  when  we  minister  to  the  wants  of  such  because 
they  are  dear  to  Christ,  we  minister  to  hij7i.     What 


37S  MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS. 

though  the  act  be  no  more  than  giving  a  cup  of 
water,  or  speaking  a  kind  word?  what  though  it  be 
done  in  some  hidden  alley,  where  no  human  eye  sees 
it,  and  no  human  tongue  shall  ever  tell  it,  yet  if  it  be 
done  to  please  and  honor  Christ,  and  to  do  good  to 
an  immortal  spirit  for  which  he  has  died,  he  will 
see  and  honor  the  act  just  as  certainly  as  though  it 
had  been  done  to  himself  personally.  Martha  and 
Mary  and  their  brother  Lazarus  were  doubtless 
greatly  privileged  by  the  visits  which  our  Lord  fre- 
quently paid  to  their  lowly  dwelling,  and  the  Scrip- 
tures tell  us  with  what  assiduity  they  waited  upon 
him,  and  how  Mary,  who  loved  him  much,  washed 
his  feet  with  her  tears  and  wiped  them  with  the 
hairs  "bf  her  head.  But  when  we  see  a  pious  dis- 
ciple now  who  has  leisure,  or  cultivation,  or  an 
abundance  of  this  world's  goods,  going  about  noise- 
lessly and  assiduously,  doing  good  to  all  who  need, 
out  of  love  to  Him  who  died  for  them,  can  we  doubt 
that  the  eye  of  the  great  Master  is  upon  such  a  one 
just  as  certainly  as  it  was  upon  Mary.? 

Teacher,  where  is  your  faith  to  receive  this  great 
doctrine.?  If  you  really,  truly  believed  that  the 
ministrations  of  mercy,  and  in  some  special  manner 
the  caring  for  children,  were  services  done  to  Christ, 
could  it  be  that  of  the  "  little  ones"  belonging  to  our 
schools  we  should  see  so  many  statedly  absent.? 
Where  are  these  stray  lambs.?  What  account  can 
you  give  of  them  to  the  great  Shepherd.?  Whence 
that  vacant  seat  in  your  form .?     Perhaps  that  scholar 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  379 

may  be  confined  to  a  sick  chamber,  perhaps  he  may- 
be running  the  streets,  perhaps  he  may  have  parents 
that  care  nothing  about  religion,  and  he  may  be 
staying  away  from  mere  indifference,  and  a  friendly 
visit  would  bring  him  back  within  the  sympathies 
and  the  precious  influences  of  the  Sunday-school. 
Do  you  really  believe  that  it  is  "  not  the  will  of  our 
heavenly  Father  that  one  of  these  little  ones  should 
perish,"  and  that  what  you  do  to  bring  them  to 
Christ  is  as  truly  gratifying  to  him  as  were  the  affec- 
tionate and  grateful  personal  attentions  of  Martha 
and  Mary  and  Lazarus  and  John,  and  will  you  any 
longer  forego  such  an  unspeakable  joy  and  privilege  ? 

9.    Uniform  Lessons. 

Although  the  minds  of  most  of  our  active  Sunday- 
school  workers  are  now  made  up  in  favor  of  having 
a  uniform  lesson  for  the  whole  school,  yet  there  are 
many  schools  in  which  there  is  still  no  concert  of 
action  as  to  the  study  of  a  particular  portion  of  Scrip- 
ture. There  are  so  many  arguments  in  favor  of  the 
uniform  lesson  system  that  it  may  with  great  propri- 
ety be  urged  on  all  our  schools. 

Let  us  glance  at  the  other  system  for  the  sake  of 
illustration,  or  perhaps  it  might  be  safe  to  call  it,  in 
most  instances,  a  want  of  system.  In  the  majority 
of  cases  it  is  rather  from  thoughtlessness  than  from  a 
thorough  consideration  of  the  merits  of  the  question 
that  each  class  selects  its  own  lesson  and  studies  on 
its  own  account,  instead  of  acting  in  concert  with  the 


380  MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS. 

rest  of  the  school.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  where  there 
is  a  lack  of  uniformity  in  the  lesson  there  is  a  poorer 
style  of  preparation  and  a  lower  grade  of  teaching 
than  where  the  whole  school  is  at  work  on  the  same 
lesson.  In  the  appearance  of  the  school  there  may 
be  little  or  no  difference.  There  may  even  be  much 
the  same  apparent  interest  in  the  classes  as  the 
teacher  hears  the  lesson,  but  the  difference  in  result 
is  apparent  at  the  end  of  a  year's  teaching.  In  the 
school  where  various  lessons  are  studied  at  the  same 
time,  each  class  is  independent  of  every  other  class. 
While  independence  in  a  general  way  is  exceedingly 
desirable,  yet  this  kind  of  independence  is  pernicious. 
In  a  well-ordered  Sunday-school  the  teachers  are 
made  to  realize  that  we  are  "  members  one  of  an- 
other." We  must  all  help  each  other,  we  must  all 
labor  for  one  purpose,  and  we  can  help  each  other 
better,  and  better  labor  with  a  view  to  a  common  end, 
if  we  intelligently  and  systematically  labor  at  the 
same  thing.  If  of  four  oarsmen  in  a  row-boat  each 
pulls  his  oar  at  such  time  and  in  such  manner  as  best 
suits  himself,  the  vessel  is  likely  to  be  jerked  in  vari- 
ous directions  and  with  a  result  anything  but  conve- 
nient or  profitable  ;  but  when  all  pull  together,  their 
labors  being  directed,  too,  by  the  man  at  the  helm, 
the  course  is  straight  onward,  and  the  result  is  just 
what  was  aimed  at. 

Pursuing  the  independent  plan,  there  is  little  op- 
portunity for  a  teachers'  study  meeting.  True,  the 
teachers  may  meet  for  prayer,  or  they  may  hold  busi- 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  381 

ness  meetings.  They  may,  for  the  sake  of  holding 
meetings,  make  frequent  amendments  to  the  consti- 
tution or  additions  to  the  by-laws  ;  or  they  may  meet 
to  hear  the  report  of  the  treasurer,  or  of  some  com- 
mittee which  would  give  account  of  the  progress  it 
has  made  since  the  previous  meeting ;  or  the  meet- 
ings may  be  for  purely  social  p#irposes,  or  with  a 
view  to  the  cultivation  of  the  musical  ability  of  the 
teachers.  While  it  is  good  to  a  certain  extent  for 
teachers  to  meet  occasionally  for  almost  any  wise 
end,  yet  it  is  the  experience  of  almost  all  who  have 
attended  teachers'  meetings  that  no  meeting  is  so 
profitable  as  that  which  is  held  for  the  diligent  and 
prayerful  study  of  the  lesson.  Too  much  business 
degenerates  into  routine  and  parliamentary  formality. 
Too  much  of  mere  social  gathering  turns  the  teach- 
er's work  into  profitless  festivity.  Independently 
studying  what  each  teacher  pleases,  what  shall  we 
study  at  the  teachers'  meeting?  On  whose  lessons 
shall  we  prepare  ourselves  ?  There  is  no  way  of 
meeting  the  wants  of  each  teacher  in  this  respect, 
no  concert  of  action,  no  united  study,  consequently, 
none  of  that  invaluable  help  which  teacher  can  im- 
part to  teacher  when  those  who  are  studying  the 
same  passage  with  a  view  to  the  same  result  are  ex- 
changing thoughts  and  comparing  ideas. 

School  being  opened,  the  superintendent,  instead 
of  introducing  the  teachers'  work  with  a  few  perti- 
nent remarks  as  to  what  the  lesson  is  and  where,  an- 
nounces, "  The  school  may  now  go  on  with  the  les- 


382  MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS. 

sons."  And  when  each  class  has  in  its  individual 
and  solitary  way  plodded  through  its  verses,  he  brings 
the  teaching  to  an  end  with  a  tap  or  two  of  the  bell, 
gives  out  a  closing  hymn,  and  without  a  word  of 
practical  application  or  enforcement  of  what  has 
been  taught,  he  lets  the  school  go. 

The  classes  in  ^he  school  whose  teachers  are  ab- 
sent are  put  to  severe  inconvenience.  No  two  teach- 
ers having  the  same  lesson,  there  is  confusion  in  what 
is  taught  when  a  substitute  is  put  in  charge  of  the  ab- 
sent teacher's  class  or  when  two  classes  are  tempora- 
rily thrown  together.  As  teacher  and  scholar  have 
prepared,  or  are  supposed  to  have  prepared,  different 
lessons,  there  is  a  want  of  fitness  in  the  teaching  and 
its  results  which  is  undesirable. 

When  the  teaching  is  over,  the  lack  of  a  practical 
application  from  the  desk  leaves  the  work  pointless 
and  incomplete.  The  nail  of  truth,  if  any  has  been 
driven,  has  not  been  clinched,  and  is  likely  to  drop 
out. 

Now  for  the  other  plan — everybody  in  the  school 
bending  his  mental  energy  to  the  consideration  of 
the  same  passage.  The  teachers'  meeting  can  be 
held  regularly  and  to  some  purpose — not  for  the 
ordinary  routine  of  business,  but  for  the  better  busi- 
ness of  hard  study  and  diligent  preparation  of  the 
lesson.  Teacher  helps  teacher  in  the  most  efficient 
way,  and  the  mental,  moral  and  spiritual  stimulus 
which  each  receives  from  each  is  a  valuable  element 
in  making  the  school  move  along  successfully.     The 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  3S3 

superintendent  or  the  pastor  presiding  at  the  study 
meeting  gives  direction  to  the  exercise,  and  becomes 
committed  not  only  to  a  general  interest  in  the  afiairs 
of  the  school,  but  to  a  particular  and  intimate  co- 
operation with  the  details  of  its  work. 

Let  us  look  at  the  school  while  in  session.  The 
teachers,  having  prepared  the  lesson  together,  natu- 
rally feel  the  bond  which  springs  from  having  a  com- 
munity of  thoughts  and  interests.  The  superintendent 
is  not  on  duty  merely  in  the  capacity  of  an  officer.  His 
work  is  not  only  to  see  that  the  school  opens  and  closes 
at  the  proper  hours  and  that  no  unseemly  noise  is 
made  in  carrying  it  on.  He  can  enter  into  the  spirit 
of  his  labors  with  a  greater  zeal  and  efficiency  than  if 
his  duties  are  merely  the  official  ones  of  maintaining 
order  and  keeping  people  up  to  time.  He  has  some 
central  idea  of  the  lesson,  the  keynote  thought  of  it, 
already  on  the  blackboard  in  the  shape  of  a  short, 
pungent  text  of.  Scripture,  or  a  motto,  to  catch  the 
eye  and  to  fix  the  thought  as  teachers  and  scholars 
enter  the  room.  He  gives  out  a  hymn  which,  as 
nearly  as  possible,  bears  upon  the  truths  taught  in 
the  lesson.  In  reading  a  portion  of  Scripture  he 
does  not  stumble  at  random  on  some  chapter  which 
has  no  particular  connection  with  the  lesson,  but 
selects  either  the  lesson  itself  or  something  which 
helps  the  school  to  understand  it.  He  does  not  start 
the  school  at  the  study  of  the  lesson  with  the  barren 
announcement  that  the  time  has  come  at  which  that 
exercise  may  be  proceeded  with,  but  helps  the  lesson 


384  MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS. 

with  a  pleasant  word  or  two  as  to  where  it  is  and 
what  it  is  about. 

And  now  the  teachers  and  their  classes  proceed 
with  the  lesson.  If  a  teacher  is  absent  and  a  substitute 
is  in  his  place,  or  if  two  classes  are  consolidated  under 
one  teacher,  all  moves  on  smoothly.  The  hour  of 
teaching  being  over,  there  is  room  for  a  little  talk 
from  the  desk.  Pastor  or  superintendent  may  now 
apply  the  truth  which  the  teachers  have  been  incul- 
cating. There  is  no  danger  of  the  work  being  done 
at  cross  purposes  when  all  have  been  studying  the 
lesson  together.  The  blackboard  is  brought  into 
service,  and  some  of  the  leading  ideas  of  the  lesson 
are  chalked  upon  it.  Ten  minutes  or  so  may  profit- 
ably be  spent  in  this  exercise.  The  closing  prayer 
may  well  add  another  clincher  to  the  nail  of  truth 
in  asking  God's  blessing  on  what  has  been  taught. 
Then,  when  the  teachers  and  those  whom  they  have 
labored  with  go  home,  they  go  warmed  with  the 
enthusiasm  proceeding  from  a  well  taught  and  har- 
moniously learned  lesson. 

I  would  urge  on  all  who  have  never  adopted  the 
uniform  lesson  system  a  fair  and  thorough  trial  of  it. 
If  the  school  has  been  successful  under  the  other 
plan,  depend  upon  it  the  success  has  been  in  spite 
of  the  independent  system  rather  than  an  evidence 
of  its  excellence,  and  if  there  has  been  an  attain- 
ment of  successful  results  without  a  uniform  lesson, 
there  is  liardly  any  measure  to  the  success  to  be 
hoped  for  when  the  whole  energy  of  the  school  is 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  385 

concentrated  in  the   co-operative  work  of  studying 
one  lesson. 

It  is  just  as  appropriate  to  have  a  uniform  lesson 
for  one  and  the  same  school  as  to  have  a  uniform 
meal  for  one  and  the  same  family.  And  what  is  a 
Sunday-school  but  a  family.?  and  what  is  their  Sun- 
day's meal  but  a  blessed  Sunday's  feeding  upon  the 
Bread  of  Life.? 

10.  How  to  Start  a  New  School, 

Any  earnest  Christian  whose  heart  is  in  the 
work  can  start  a  Sunday-school,  should  his  lot  be 
cast  in  a  neighborhood  where  no  such  school  exists. 
There  are  such  neighborhoods  scattered  all  over  the 
land  and  many  thousands  of  Christian  hearts  earn- 
estly longing  to  engage  in  the  most  blessed  work, 
but  they  know  not  how  to  set  about  it.  I  propose 
to  ofler  a  few  plain,  practical  suggestions  on  the 
subject.  I  have  in  view  a  destitute  neighborhood  in 
the  country  where  there  is  no  regular  church  or- 
ganization and  no  stated  preaching  of  the  gospel. 
In  the  establishment  of  a  mission-school  in  the  city, 
or  of  a  school  within  the  bounds  of  an  organized 
congregation,  the  steps  would  be  somewhat  different, 
though  the  spirit  and  the  governing  principles  would 
be  the  same. 

I.  The   first  step   for   any  one  who  would  begin 

such  a  work  is  to  seek  guidance  and  aid  from  above. 

*'  Except  the   Lord   build   the   house,  they  labor  in 

vain  that  build  it."     This   is  true,  indeed,  of  every 

33  Z 


386  MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS. 

undertaking,  but  it  seems  especially  applicable  to 
such  a  work  as  that  of  the  Sunday-school.  The 
man  or  the  woman  who  meditates  engaging  in  such 
an  enterprise  needs  to  begin  with  earnest,  importunate 
prayer.  Pray  to  have  your  own  soul  baptized  anew 
with  holy  zeal  and  energy  ;  pray  for  special  guid- 
ance, that  you  may  be  led  to  adopt  the  right  meas- 
ures and  to  seek  the  best  co-operation  ;  pray  that  the 
Holy  Spirit  would  move  the  hearts  of  those  whom 
you  will  need  as  fellow-laborers  in  the  work  ;  pray 
that  the  children  whom  you  wish  to  bring  into  the 
school  may  be  inclined  to  come,  and  that  the  parents 
may  be  inclined  to  send  them,  and  to  co-operate  with 
you  heartily  in  your  plans ;  pray  that  those  who 
have  the  worldly  means  needed  may  have  their 
hearts  warmed  toward  the  project,  so  that  whatever 
money  may  be  necessary  shall  be  forthcoming  as  it 
is  required.  The  hearts  of  all  are  in  your  Father's 
hands,  and  he  moveth  them  whithersoever  he  will. 
Go  to  him,  then,  with  the  utmost  confidence,  but 
also  with  the  most  importunate  and  persevering  re- 
quest, for  help  in  what  you  are  about  to  undertake. 
This  is  your  first  step. 

2.  Make  up  your  mind  tliat  you  will  give  cheer- 
fully of  your  time,  strength  and  worldly  means  to 
the  forwarding  of  the  work.  You  will  not  succeed 
unless  you  enter  upon  it  with  a  willingness  to  make 
sacrifices.  You  must  be  willing  to  give  up  some- 
thing of  ease,  to  make  concessions  to  the  wishes  and 
the  prejudices  of  others,  to  be  deprived  of  certain 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  387 

hours  heretofore  given  to  leisure  and  quiet  retire- 
ment. ♦  You  must  make  a  fresh,  special  consecra- 
tion of  yourself  to  the  Master's  service. 

3.  Prepared  thus  to  enter  upon  the  work  in  a 
right  spirit,  and  with  an  urgent  cry  for  divine  help 
and  guidance,  seek  next  for  human  guidance.  Peri- 
odicals are  now  published  devoted  to  this  special 
work  of  the  Sunday-school  and  containing  practical 
hints  and  suggestions  in  regard  to  its  management. 
Books  have  been  published  for  the  same  purpose, 
such  as  Pardee's  Sabbath- School  Index.,  Eggleston's 
Sunday- School  Manual^  House's  Sunday- School 
Hand-Book.,  Packard's  Teacher  Teaching.,  Hart's 
Thoughts  on  Sabbath-Schools.,  etc.  Take  some  one 
or  more  of  these  Sunday-school  papers  and  get  one 
or  more  of  these  volumes,  and  give  some  time  to 
reading  on  the  subject.  If  in  this  reading  you  do 
not  find  exactly  the  directions  needed  by  you  in  your 
particular  case,  you  will  at  all  events  get  your  heart 
more  and  more  interested,  and  you  cannot  fail  to 
meet  with  many  suggestive  and  wise  thoughts  on  the 
general  subject. 

4.  Before  making  any  public  move  in  the  matter 
look  around  you  thoughtfully  and  see  what  ma- 
terials for  a  school  exist ;  who  there  are  in  the 
neighborhood  that  would  be  suitable  persons,  in  re- 
spect to  age  and  character,  to  act  as  teachers,  and 
that  would  be  likely  to  be  willing  to  engage  in  the 
service  ;  what  children  there  are  that  are  of  suit- 
able age,  and  that  might  probably  be  induced  to  at- 


388  MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS. 

tend.  Make  an  inventory  of  these,  putting  down 
every  one  that  you  can  think  of,  until  you  feel  that 
you  can  form  some  reasonable  estimate  in  regard  to 
the  prospects  for  a  school.  Among  the  preliminary 
subjects  of  inquiry  that  should  thus  occupy  your 
mind  is  the  question  of  a  place  for  holding  a  school. 
Is  there  a  school-house  in  the  neighborhood  ?  Could 
it  be  used  for  a  Sunday-school  .-^  If  not,  what  other 
building  or  room  is  to  be  had }  You  may  not  be 
able  by  yourself  to  solve  all  these  questions,  and  you 
should  b}'  no  means  undertake  to  solve  them  with- 
out consultation  with  those  who  are  to  be  your  co- 
workers. But  the  more  carefully  and  thoughtfully 
you  revolve  the  whole  subject  in  your  own  mind, 
before  asking  help  and  co-operation  from  others, 
the  more  ready  will  you  find  them  to  listen  to  you, 
and  the  less  danger  will  there  be  of  your  falling  into 
discouragement  when  you  encounter,  as  you  doubt- 
less will  encounter,  difficulties  and  obstructions. 

Having  thus  laid  your  case  before  your  heavenly 
Father  ;  having  consecrated  yourself  to  the  work  by 
some  special,  private  act  of  voluntary  self-devotion  ; 
having  given  time  and  thought  to  preparation  for  it 
by  reading  some  of  the  books  and  papers  that  treat 
of  the  subject ;  and  having  endeavored  to  make  a 
sober  and  intelligent  estimate  of  what  is  to  be  done, — 
you  are  now  prepared  to  go  forward  and  make  an 
actual  beginning.  In  so  proceeding,  what  is  the  first 
thing  to  be  done?  What  are  the  specific  steps  to  be 
taken  in  collecting  and  organizing  a  school? 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  389 

What  is  your  next  step? 

5.  Get  together  in  some  way  those  who  are  will- 
ing to  help  as  teachers.  Who  these  are  you  can  find 
out  only  by  actual  inquiry.  You  must  go  and  see 
them  individually,  one  by  one,  and  talk  the  matter 
over.  Having  found  the  necessary  helpers,  get  them 
together,  and  after  prayer  for  divine  guidance  and 
help  in  your  enterprise  have  a  free  conference,  lay- 
ing before  them  all  the  plans  you  have  to  suggest 
and  all  the  information  you  have  gathered,  and  then 
agree  among  yourselves  upon  some  plan  of  proceed- 
ing. In  this  conference  you  will  obtain  much  fresh 
information.  No  matter  how  well  you  may  suppose 
yourself  to  be  acquainted  with  the  neighborhood, 
you  will  find  that  every  one  knows,  in  some  noo'k  or 
corner,  some  family  that  you  have  overlooked.  You 
will  also  probably  receive  valuable  suggestions. 
Perhaps  to  your  surprise  you  will  find  some  one  who 
in  other  days  and  in  some  other  place  has  been  a 
regular  Sunday-school  worker  and  knows  all  about 
how  the  work  is  to  be  done. 

6.  Every  family  should  be  visited.  This  part  of 
the  work  should  be  divided  among  you  at  the  con- 
ference just  spoken  of.  Make  written  lists  of  the 
families  assigned  to  each  worker,  with  the  under- 
standing and  agreement  that  the  visit  shall  be  made 
within  a  week,  if  possible,  from  the  time  of  the  con 
ference.  A  certain  promptness  and  simultaneous- 
ness  of  action  in  the  matter  arrests  attention  and  cre- 
ates a  stir.     This   systematic  and   thorough   family 

33* 


390  MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS. 

visitation  is  essential  to  success.  No  other  kind  of 
advertising — posting  of  notices  and  handbills — will 
answer.  You  must  go  from  house  to  house,  explain 
what  you  are  going  to  do,  ask  the  co-operation  of 
the  parents,  and  invite  every  child  personally.  If 
this  part  of  the  work  is  well  done,  you  cannot  fail  to 
have  a  school. 

7.  A  place  for  holding  the  school  will  have  to  be 
secured.  In  most  neighborhoods,  even  in  the  most 
destitute,  there  is  usually  some  place  where  people 
congregate  occasionally  for  the  purpose  of  religious 
worship.  Very  often  it  is  the  district  school-house. 
Get  whatever  place  you  can  that  is  most  central  and 
most  convenient.  In  some  cases  the  only  opening 
will*be  in  a  private  house.  One  of  the  most  success- 
ful schools  I  ever  knew  was  held  in  a  barn.  Make 
a  beginning  somewhere,  in  the  best  place  you  can 
get.  When  you  are  once  under  way  and  people  be- 
come interested  in  your  work,  places  now  closed 
against  you  may  be  opened. 

8.  Sunday-schools  cost  something — not  much,  in- 
deed, but  still  something.  There  is  no  tuition  to 
pay,  which  is  the  chief  cost  of  the  weekday-school, 
but  books  and  other  things  are  needed,  and  they 
cannot  be  obtained  without  money.  Every  scholar 
as  well  as  teacher  will  need  a  Bible  or  a  Testament. 
Most  of  the  scholars  will  have  Bibles  or  Testaments 
of  their  own,  and  those  who  have  should  be  told 
when  invited  to  come  to  the  school  to  bring  a  Bible 
or  Testament  with  them.     For  the  supply  of  those 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  391 

ficliolars  who  are  destitute  application  should  be 
made  to  the  nearest  depository  of  the  American  Bible 
Society,  and  the  books  obtained  either  by  donation 
or  purchase.  After  the  Bible  each  scholar  will  need 
a  hymn-book  and  a  question-book  or  lesson-book  of 
some  kind.  These  are  now  published  in  great  vari- 
ety. The  teachers  in  their  preliminary  conference 
will  have  to  agree  upon  the  hymn-book  or  question- 
book  to  be  used,  and  order  a  supply  to  be  in  readi- 
ness when  the  school  opens.  At  the  same  time  each 
one  should  determine  to  take  a  teachers'  paper  at 
his  own  expense.  Scholars  should  be  induced,  so 
far  as  possible,  to  purchase  their  own  question-books 
and  hymn-books.  The  cost  to  each  will  be  but  little, 
and  it  is  better,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Bible,  for  each 
to  have  his  own.  Besides  Bibles,  hymn-books  and 
question-books,  the  school  will  need  a  supply  of  chil- 
dren's papers,  a  blackboard,  one  or  more  wall  maps 
and  a  library.  The  cost  of  these  will  vary  of  course 
with  the  size  and  the  means  of  the  school.  But  if 
the  school  is  to  be  made  interesting  and  profitable, 
something  considerable  must  be  expended  in  this 
way.  A  proper  outfit,  in  addition  to  the  supply  of 
Bibles,  hymn-books  and  question-books,  will  cost  not 
less  surely  than  one  dollar  a  scho'ar,  and  a  like 
amount  ought  to  be  expended  yearly  in  replenishing 
the  stock. 

Any  dealer  or  publication  society  that  makes  a 
specialty  of  this  business  will,  on  application,  cheer- 
fully furnish  estimates,  with  lists  of  books  and  other 


392  MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS. 

requisites.     I  give  below  a  sample,  such  as  1  would 
recommend  for  a  school  of  forty  scholars : 

I  Superintendent's  Roll-book .25 

I  Librarian's  Record .40 

8  TeaQher's  Class-books .48 

12  Primers 48 

I  Bible   Dictionary $1-$^ 

I  Pardee's  Sabbath- School  Index 1.25 

I  Map  of  Palestine 1.50 

I  Blackboard  Paper 1.60 

40  Children's  Papers,  yearly 5.00 

I  Select  Library,  from  40  to  60  vols 27.54 

$40.00 

The  books  and  other  requisites  being  provided,  a' 
place  of  meeting  secured,  and  the  scholars  and 
teachers  assembled,  how  is  the  school  to  be  organ- 
ized ?     What  is  the  next  step  ? 

9.  Probably  the  teachers  will  have  agreed  before- 
hand among  themselves  which  of  them  shall  be 
superintendent.  If  not,  they  must  do  so  now.  A 
leader  is  the  first  thing  needed,  and  usually  there  is 
not  much  practical  difficulty  in  determining  which 
of  them  it  shall  be.  In  most  cases  the  prime  mover 
in  the  matter,  the  one  who  first  set  the  enterprise  in 
motion,  will  be  the  one  most  suitable  for  superin* 
tendent. 

10.  The  superintendent  having  been  designated, 
he  will  proceed  to  call  the  meeting  to  order.  We 
can  imagine  him  addressing  the  meeting  as  follows : 
'''  My  friends,  we  have  met  to  form  a  school  for  the 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  393 

purpose  of  studying  together  God's  holy  Word  on 
this  his  holy  day.  We  shall  not  succeed  in  our 
undertaking  unless  we  have  his  blessing  upon  it. 
To  this  end,  then,  let  us  call  upon  him  in  prayer." 

11.  After  a  brief  prayer  by  the  superintendent,  or 
by  some  one  else  that  he  may  call  upon,  he  proceeds 
to  divide  the  scholars  into  classes.  This  one  step 
converts  the  little  assembly  from  a  mere  meeting 
into  a  school.  The  classification  is  the  first  specific 
act  of  a  school  organization.  In  making  this  classi- 
fication the  first  thing  is  to  ascertain  which  of  the 
scholars  cannot  read.  These  of  course  will  form  a 
class  or  classes  by  themselves.  Next,  of  those  that 
read,  some  will  be  found  who  read  very  imperfectly, 
having  to  stop  frequently  to  spell  out  the  hard  words. 
These  will  constitute  another  class.  Of  those  that 
read  fluently  there  will  probably  be  enough  to  form 
two  or  three  classes,  and  these  will  be  sorted  ac- 
cording to  age,  sex,  size  and  general  indications  of 
intelligence. 

12.  The  superintendent,  before  beginning  to  clas- 
sify, will  do  well  to  agree  with  the  teachers  which 
kind  of  scholars  shall  be  assigned  to  each.  Those 
who  do  not  read  at  all  are  to  be  assigned  to  A  ; 
those  who  read  imperfectly,  to  B  ;  those  who  read 
fluently,  to  C,  D,  E,  etc.  He  will  then  proceed  to 
call  the  scholars  to  him  one  by  one,  and  by  asking 
each  one  to  read  a  little  in  the  Testament  which  he 
holds  in  his  hand,  and  in  case  the  scholar  reads 
fluently,  by  asking  him  two  or  three  questions  as  to 


394  MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS. 

his  studies  and  his  general  knowledge,  he  can  de- 
termine pretty  soon  to  which  class  he  ought  to  belong, 
and  can  at  once  send  him  accordingly  to  A,  B,  C, 
D,  etc.  It  will  take  the  superintendent  half  an  hour 
probably  to  classify  in  this  way  a  school  of  forty 
scholars. 

13.  While  the  superintendent  is  thus  engaged  in 
examining  and  classifying  the  scholars,  the  teachers 
should  employ  the  time  in  making  themselves  ac- 
quainted with  the  scholars  assigned  to  them.  As 
each  scholar  comes  into  the  class,  the  teacher  should 
make  a  careful  and  minute  record  of  his  name,  resi- 
dence, parents'  names,  and  any  other  information 
which  the  scholar  may  give  in  regard  to  himself  or 
his  family,  and  of  the  neighborhood  in  which  he 
lives.  These  particulars  help  the  teacher  wonder- 
fully in  his  intercourse  with  the  scholars,  and  they 
should  be  in  such  form  as  to  be  available  to  the 
superintendent,  secretary  and  librarian  in  making 
up  the  general  register  arfd  records  of  the  school. 
The  half  hour  spent  by  the  superintendent  in  the 
classification  may  be  very  profitably  spent  by  the 
teachers  in  making  these  preliminary  inquiries  and 
recording  the  results. 

14.  In  a  school  numbering  not  more  than  thirty 
or  forty  scholars  the  general  oversight  need  not  oc- 
cupy much  of  the  superintendent's  time.  He  should 
expect  to  teach  a  class,  as  well  as  to  superintend  the 
school,  and  provision  for  this  should  enter  into  his 
plans  in  making  the  classification. 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  395 

15.  The  case  is  different  in  regard  to  the  duties  of 
librarian  and  secretary.  The  office  of  librarian  par- 
ticularly requires  a  considerable  time,  even  in  a  small 
school,  and  unless  there  is  some  one  who  can  give  to 
the  business  nearly  his  whole  time  during  the  school- 
hours,  the  library  will  not  have  that  efficiency  which 
properly  belongs  to  it,  and  besides,  the  books  will 
very  rapidly  disappear.  In  a  school  of  the  size  now 
contemplated,  the  librarian  may,  without  difficulty, 
discharge  the  additional  duties  of  secretary.  There 
can  almost  always  be  found  some  young  man  or 
young  woman  who  is  not  willing  to  teach,  or  per- 
haps not  fitted  to  teach,  who  yet  can  perform  Jtd- 
mirably  the  duties  of  librarian  and  secretary,  and 
who  would  be  gratified  in  being  thus  honorably  and 
usefully  connected  with  the  school.  In  case  no  one 
can  be  found  for  librarian,  one  of  the  teachers  should 
undertake  the  duty,  and  the  superintendent  should 
take  the  duty  of  secretary. 

16.  When  the  classification  has  been  completed, 
the  teachers  will  severally  proceed  to  instruct  their 
classes  in  whatever  lesson  has  been  agreed  upon  or 
has  been  assigned  by  the  superintendent.  After  a 
suitable  time  spent  in  this  way,  the  superintendent 
wmU  give  a  signal  for  the  lessons  to  cease,  and  will 
then  make  a  few  remarks  to  the  scholars  ursfincr 
their  punctual  attendance  and  asking  their  co-opera- 
tion in  bringing  in  other  scholars,  and  also  pressing 
upon  their  attention  some  of  the  truths  contained  in 
the   lessons  upon  which   they  have   been   engaged. 


39^  MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS. 

The  school  should  close  with  singing  some  pretty 
Sunday-school  hymn  of  a  kind  likely  to  take  with 
the  children.  If  a  library  and  a  supply  of  children's 
papers  have  been  procured,  make  a  distribution  of 
these  just  before  dismission. 

17.  I  have  said  nothing  about  a  constitution  and 
by-laws.  In  fact,  I  have  not  much  faith  in  this  kind 
of  trumpery.  I  would  not  say  that  no  Sunday-school 
should  have  its  constitution  and  by-laws.  Perhaps 
they  may  be  necessary  in  some  places  and  for  some 
people,  but  oftentimes  schools  are  killed  by  constitu- 
tion making.  A  school  such  as  I  have  described  is 
a  very  simple  affair,  and  the  less  machinery  there  is 
about  it,  the  greater  ordinarily  will  be  its  motive 
power.  Instead  of  meeting  to  puzzle  their  brains 
over  a  constitution,  let  the  teachers  meet  to  warm 
their  hearts  in  earnest  prayer  for  the  conversion  of 
their  scholars. 

II.  Are  we  Making  Progress  ? 

The  Sunday-school  cause  is  moving ;  no  one  can 
question  that.  The  evidences  of  activity  and  of  mo- 
tion are  too  many  and  too  palpable  to  be  ignored  or 
denied. 

But  all  motion  is  not  progress.  There  is  such  a 
thing  as  moving  backward,  or  moving  in  a  circle, 
going  round  and  round,  but  not  going  forward.  The 
boy's  arrow  is  no  swifter  than  his  top.  The  activity 
of  some  people  is  that  of  the  top.  They  make  a 
great  fuss,  they  bustle  about  and  spin  around  here 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  397 

and  there  and  are  tremendously  busy,  but  they  have 
no  well-defined  aim,  and  you  find  them  after  a 
twenty  years'  absence  just  where  you  left  them. 
Every  now  and  then  some  new  improvement  in  the 
Sunday-school  machinery  is  brought  out,  but  on  ex- 
amination it  proves  to  be  only  the  revival  of  what 
was  in  use  thirty  or  forty  years  ago.  Such  things 
necessarily  raise  the  query  whether  we  really  are 
only  moving  in  a  circle.  Instead  of  pooh-poohing 
at  the  question — a  method  of  arguing  which  often 
silences  people  without  satisfying  them — let  us  for  a 
moment  look  soberly  at  some  of  the  broad  facts  in 
the  case. 

I.  In  the  first  place,  thirty  years  ago  the  idea  still 
lingered  in  the  minds  of  many  good  people  that  the 
Sunday-school  was  only  for  the  children  of  the  poor. 
Robert  Raikes  in  the  Sunday-school  and  Joseph 
Lancaster  in  the  weekday-school  did  incidentally  this 
great  mischief.  The  controlling  idea  in  the  minds 
of  both  these  good  men  was  a  scheme  for  the  ameliora- 
tion of  the  destitute.  The  idea  took  such  hold  of 
the  public  mind  that  it  required  at  least  two  or  three 
generations  to  grow  out  of  it.  The  idea  had  not 
yet  died  out  thirty  years  ago.  To-day  it  is  practi- 
cally dead  both  as  regards  the  Sunday-school  and 
the  weekday-school.  The  two  have  grown  side  by 
side,  and  have  reciprocally  helped  each  other.  There 
is  to-day  a  much  sounder  public  sentiment  in  regard 
to  both  than  there  was  a  generation  back.  The 
cases  now  are  exceedingly  rare  and  exceptional  of 
34 


39^  MISCELLANEOUS   TOPICS. 

those  who  think  that  either  the  Sunday-school  or 
the  common  weekday-school  is  of  the  nature  of  a 
charity,  like  the  almshouse,  for  the  exclusive  benetit 
of  the  poor  and  the  vicious.  Here,  then,  is  substan- 
tial progress,  about  which  there  cannot  be  much 
question.  The  community  has  been  educated  to  a 
more  correct  theory  of  the  work  to  be  done. 

2.  In  the  second  place,  the  relation  of  the  church 
to  the  Sunday-school  is  more  clearly  defined  and 
more  generally  accepted  than  it  was  thirty  years  ago. 
The  change  here  has  not  been  so  complete  as  in  the 
preceding  case.  There  are  still  those  who  regard 
the  Sunday-school  as  a  sort  of  outside,  independent 
organization,  like,  for  instance,  an  association  for 
preventing  cruelty  to  animals.  I  do  not  refer  to 
the  union  of  Christians  of  different  name  in  what  are 
properly  missionary  fields,  where  no  one  denomina- 
tion is  strong  enough  by  itself  to  sustain  a  school. 
In  such  cases — and  they  are  very  numerous,  and  they 
always  will  be — God-fearing  men,  not  as  Presbyteri- 
ans, Methodists,  Episcopalians,  Baptists,  and  so  forth, 
but  as  Christians,  come  together  and  unite  in  gather- 
ing the  children  of  all  classes  into  a  school  on  the 
Sabbath  and  teach  them  the  great  common  doctrines 
of  salvation.  May  the  day  never  come  when  duty 
like  this  shall  become  an  obsolete  idea  !  The  case 
to  which  I  refer  is  different  from  this.  It  is  that 
of  the  Sunday-school  belonging  to  a  particular  con- 
gregation or  parish.  The  time  was  when  a  few  of 
the  members  of  such  a  congregation — usually  of  the 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  399 

younger  portion — formed  a  coterie  by  themselves, 
and  were  regarded  as  specially  constituting  the  Sun- 
day-school people,  the  remaining  and  far  larger  por- 
tion of  the  congregation  looking  on,  with  approbation 
perhaps,  but  still  only  as  spectators.  If  the  pulpit 
was  to  be  lowered,  the  pews  to  be  remodelled  or 
cushioned,  the  church  to  be  painted  or  repaired,. or 
a  new  minister  to  be  called,  it  was  a  matter  in  Which 
all  had  an  interest  and  a  voice,  but  the  Sunday-school 
belonged  to  the  teachers.  Such  was  the  theory.  I 
am  sorry  to  say  the  idea  is  not  dead,  but  it  is  dying. 
In  this  matter  we  certainly  have  made  progress,  and 
the  day,  I  believe,  is  not  distant  when  the  church 
and  congregation  as  a  whole  will  feel  the  same  in- 
terest and  the  same  sense  of  obligation  in  the  organ- 
ization, management  and  support  of  the  Sunday- 
school  that  they  do  in  the  maintenance  of  public 
w^orship  or  in  the  settlement  and  support  of  a  pastor. 
3.  Perhaps  the  most  marked  evidence  of  growth 
and  progress  in  the  Sunday-school  work  is  in  the 
multiplication  of  books,  maps,  charts,  plates  and  ap- 
paratus of  various  kinds.  There  are,  as  I  have 
already  observed,  iTundreds  of  teachers  still  living 
who  can  remember  the  time  when  "Anrta  Ross," 
"  Little  Henry  and  his  Bearer,"  and  a  few  other  books 
of  the  same  sort,  that  could  almost  literally  be  counted 
on  one's  fingers,  constituted  the  entire  stock  of  books, 
and  a  few  sheets  of  red  and  blue  tickets  were  about 
all  the  apparatus  of  the  Sunday-school.  The  writer 
of  these   paragraphs  was   himself  a  pupil  in  a  large 


400  MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS. 

mission  school  in  which  the  entire  stock  of  supplies 
of  every  kind  was  brought  weekly  by  one  of  the  lady 
teachers  in  her  reticule.  There  was  then  no  map  of 
Palestine,  big  or  little,  which  could  be  made  available 
for  the  instruction  of  a  class ;  there  were  no  prints, 
colored  or  uncolored,  coarse  or  fine,  by  which  a 
teacher  could  illustrate  to  a  class  the  manners  and 
customs  of  Bible  times ;  there  were  no  class-books 
or  school  records  ;  there  were  no  Sunday-school  pa- 
pers either  for  scholars  or  teachers ;  there  were  no 
rooms  specially  fitted  and  furnished  for  the  use  of  the 
school,  but  the  sessions  were  held  universally,  as  in 
many  places  they  are  still  held,  in  the  body  of  the 
church ;  there  were  of  course  no  such  things  as 
blackboards  in  the  school ;  indeed,  they  were  not 
then  known  to  any  extent  in  the  weekday-school,  and 
their  introduction  into  the  Sunday-school  hardly  dates 
further  back  than  five  or  six  years.  In  all  this — that 
is,  in  the  means  and  appliances  of  various  kinds  .foi 
making  Sunday-school  instruction  effective  and  in- 
teresting— we  have  unquestionably  made  great  pro- 
gress. In  some  of  these  things  we  have  perhaps 
gone  too  fast  and  too  far.  We  are  going  into  an  ex- 
treme, for  instance,  in  the  production  of  library  books. 
More  new  volumes  of  this  kind  are  now  produced  in 
a  single  year  than  the  whole  number  which  were  in 
existence  a  little  more  than  one  generation  back  ;  and 
among  this  vast  multitude  of  religious  books  for  the 
young  there  is  without  doubt  a  large  amount  of 
which  the  most  favorable  opinion   that  can  be  ex- 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  401 

pressed  is  that  it  is  trash.  But  that  does  not  detract 
from  the  substantial  merit  of  that  large  number 
of  books  which  are  perfectly  unexceptionable  and 
whose  influence  upon  the  minds  of  the  young  is  good 
and  only  good.  In  the  means  for  inculcating  Bible 
truth  and  producing  sound  religious  impressions  the 
teacher  of  the  present  day  has  unquestionably  advan- 
tages vastly  superior  to  those  of  the  previous  genera- 
tion. Only,  where  the  number  of  these  appliances  is 
so  great — and  some  of  them  are  of  doubtful  charac- 
ter— it  behooves  him  now  to  exercise  a  degree  of 
caution  not  needed  formerly  when  he  had  almost 
nothing  to  choose  from,  good  or  bad* 

4.  In  the  fourth  place,  there  has  been  a  great  ad- 
vance in  the  matter  of  Sunday-school  music.  In- 
stead of  the  dolorous,  dismal,  joy-forbidding  strains 
which  once  dragged  their  weary  length  along  at  the 
opening  and  closing  services  of  the  school,  tunes 
have  been  created  better  suited  to  the  nature  of  chil- 
dren. As  a  consequence  this  part  of  the  service,  in- 
stead of  being  a  solemn  bore,  to  be  submitted  to  with 
as  little  rebellion  as  possible,  is  now  the  bright  spot 
in  all  the  holy  day.  The  children  are  fairly  jubilant 
when  the  exercise  is  announced.  There  is  nothing 
ordinarily  that  gives  a  mass  of  children  greater  pleas- 
ure than  singing,  when  the  exercise  is  properly  con- 
ducted, and  it  was  a  great  advance  in  the  right  direc- 
tion when  advantage  was  taken  of  this  source  of 
innocent  enjoyment  to  make  it  a  means  of  religious 
service  and  improvement. 
34*  2  A 


402  MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS. 

• 
5.  The  machinery  for  improving  the  character  of 

the  work  has  been  very  greatly  increased  ;  "  created" 
would  perhaps  be  a  more  appropriate  word.  For 
awakening  an  interest  in  Sunday-schools,  and  espe- 
cially for  kindling  an  enthusiasm  for  the  work  in  its 
missionary  aspect,  we  have  had,  almost  from  the  be- 
ginning, an  admirable  agency  in  the  American  Sun- 
day-School Union.  But  for  improving  the  character 
of  the  school  itself,  by  teaching  and  training  teachers, 
we  are  indebted  to  agencies  not  yet  ten  years  old. 
That  there  is  a  prodigious  advance  yet  to  be  made  in 
this  direction  no  one  doubts,  certainly  not  those  who 
are  on  the  top  of  the  advancing  wave.  They  feel  as 
never  before  how  wretchedly  the  very  best  Sunday- 
school  teachers  come  short  of  the  ideal  standard  now 
set  before  them  ;  yet  that  very  great  improvements 
in  Sunday-school  teaching  have  been  made  in  the 
last  ten  years,  and  even  in  the  last  five  years,  is  too 
plain  to  require  illustration  or  proof.  The  whole 
idea  of  forming  associations  for  improvement  in 
Sunday-school  teaching,  such  as  normal  classes,  nor- 
mal institutes  and  the  like,  is  absolutely  new.  It  is 
a  creation  of  the  present  times.  The  agencies  of 
which  we  are  speaking  have  already  produced  a 
marked  improvement  in  the  style  of  teaching  in  the 
Sunday-school.  This  change  of  course  is  not  yet 
general.  There  is  a  vast  number  of  schools  not  yet 
reached  by  its  influence.  But  the  movement  has 
been  inaugurated.  It  is  a  movement  in  the  right 
direction,  and  it  is  destined   to  go  on.     The  great 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  403 

want  of  the  Sunday-school  system  as  a  whole  is  good 
teachers.  The  teacher  is  the  school.,  and  there  is 
no  better  evidence  that  the  cause  has  made  and  is 
making  progress  than  the  steps  which  have  been 
taken  in  the  last  five  years  for  improving  the  qualifi- 
cations of  the  Sunday-school  teacher. 

6.  Another  point  that  merits  special  consideration 
is  the  gradual  development  of  what  Mr.  Woodruff 
of  Brooklyn  is  wont  to  call  "  The  Sunday-school 
idea."  By  this  he  means  the  opportunity  which  the 
Sunday-school  offers  for  the  employment  of  laymen  in 
the  work  of  making  known  the  gospel  and  bringing 
men  under  its  influence.  Every  Christian,  equally 
with  the  ministers  of  the  gospel,  it  is  believed,  is 
bound  to  pray  and  labor  for  the  coming  of  Christ's 
kingdom,  and  the  Sunday-school  opens  a  field  in 
which  every  disciple  may  do  something  to  further 
this  great  end.  It  is  the  very  best  field  for  private 
individual  efibrt.  Ministers  in  the  pulpit  can  do 
many  most  important  things  toward  the  upbuilding 
of  Christ's  kingdom  which  laymen  cannot  do.  But 
ministers,  even  if  multiplied  tenfold,  could  not  do  the 
tenth  part  of  the  work  that  is  to  be  done.  Besides 
this,  the  fact  of  laymen  working  in  this  way  to  bring 
others  under  the  influence  of  the  gospel  is  the  very 
best  means  of  developing  the  graces  of  private  Chris- 
tians. The  Sunday-school  would  be  a  noble  thing 
for  the  church  if  it  accomplished  no  other  good  than 
this.  As  teaching  is  the  very  best  way  of  learning, 
so  doing  good  to  others  is  the  best  way  to  get  good 


404  MISCELLANEOUS   TOPICS. 

for  ourselves.  The  Sunday-school  is  the  agency 
beyond  all  others  for  increasing  and  developing 
the  working  talent  and  the  Christian  graces  of  the 
church. 

The  utility  of  the  Sunday-school  in  the  matter  now 
suggested  is  indeed  no  new  idea  of  the  present  gen- 
eration. It  lies  at  the  corner-stone  of  the  American 
Sunday-School  Union,  now  half  a  century  old.  All 
the  managers  and  most  of  the  officers  and  working 
agents  of  that  society  are  and  always  have  been  lay- 
men, and  the  doctrine  that  laymen  may  wisely  be 
employed  in  the  management  and  prosecution  of  this 
blessed  work,  not  to  the  disparagement,  but  to  the 
relief  and  the  assistance,  of  the  ministry,  has  ever 
been  maintained  and  exemplified  by  that  institution. 
The  idea  was  expressed  with  great  clearness  and 
force  some  years  ago  in  a  sermon  preached  for  the 
society  by  the  late  Dr.  Potts  of  New  York,  on  "  The 
Sunday-school  as  a  Means  of  Developing  the  Lay 
Talent  of  the  Church.'*  But  this  idea,  though  ad- 
vanced in  a  previous  generation,  and  maintained 
throughout  with  an  unbroken  continuity,  has  re- 
ceived a  large  and  unwonted  development  in  the 
last  twenty  years.  There  never  was  a  time  in  the 
history  of  modern  Christianity  when  laymen  were 
doing  so  much  as  they  are  now  doing  in  the  direct 
work  of  evangelization,  making  known  the  un- 
searchable riches  of  Christ  and  bringing  others 
under  the  influence  of  Christianity,  and  all  this 
mainly  through  the  Sunday-school.     In  the  develop- 


MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS.  405 

ment  of  this  idea,  therefore,  there  has  undoubtedly 
been  unmistakable  progress. 

7.  One  of  the  most  hopeful  signs  in  regard  to  the 
Sunday-school  work  is  the  spirit  of  restless  uneasi- 
ness everywhere  manifest  in  regard  to  it.  We  all 
see  in  this  institution  capabilities  which  we  have 
hardly  begun  to  realize.  We  all  feel  that  our  schools 
are  sadly  below  the  standard  to  which  we  are  look- 
ing. Look  over  the  columns  of  any  Sunday-school 
teachers*  paper  for  three  or  four  successive  num- 
bers and  notice  the  remarks  of  the  various  corre- 
spondents and  contributors,  and  see  how  constant 
the  demand  is  for  something  higher,  something  bet- 
ter, than  anything  we  have  yet  reached  in  Sunday- 
school  attainment.  We  want  better  books  for  our 
libraries :  we  want  better  question-books  for  our 
classes  ;  we  want  Bibles  filled  with  the  right  kind  of 
maps ;  we  want  a  better  style  of  music — something 
that  shall  enable  the  children  not  onl}'  to  sing  sweet- 
ly and  with  a  will  while  in  the  Sunday-school,  but 
to  keep  on  singing  when  they  grow  up  and  form  part 
of  the  great  congregation  ;  we  want  better  school- 
rooms and  more  eflScient  and  varied  means  of  visible 
illustration — wall  maps,  charts  and  blackboards  ;  we 
want  trained  teachers,  capable  of  commanding  at- 
tention and  of  making  Bible  truth  plain  and  attrac- 
tive ;  we  want  parents  who  really  care  more  for  the 
religious  training  and  welfare  of  their  children  than 
for  their  secular  education  or  their  advancement  in 
worldly  condition  ;   we  want   a   church   thoroughly 


4C6  MISCELLANEOUS    TOPICS. 

alive  to  the  command  of  her  Lord,  "  Feed  my 
lambs ;"  we  want  pastors  who  can  push  forward 
and  intelligently  guide  and  control  this  noble  move- 
ment— men  who  know  how  to  take  hold  of  the  will- 
ing lay  element  to  be  found  in  every  congregation 
and  utilize  it ;  we  want  more  missionary  work  in 
bringing  in  the  millions  who  are  yet  outside  of  the 
Sunday-school. 

But  there  is  no  end  to  our  wants,  as  there  is  none 
to  our  shortcomings.  The  fact,  however,  that  Chrisr 
tians  are  to  some  extent  alive  to  these  deficiencies  is 
among  the  hopeful  signs  of  the  times — more  hopeful, 
assuredly,  than  a  spirit  of  self-complacency  or  of 
easy  indifference.  The  Sunday-school  worker  can- 
not better  begin  each  new  year  than  with  the  earnest 
aspiration  after  improvement  in  his  work,  or,  to  vary 
the  expression,  with  a  spirit  of  fixed,  resolute,  hope- 
ful discontent. 


INDEX 


Abitenteeism  of  scholars,  how  to  be  remedied,  374. 

Accoimnodations  for  the  Sunday-school,  333. 

AfffCtions  of  a  class,  how  to  be  gained,  189. 

Aife,  how  far  to  be  considered  in  classifying  scholars,  71. 

Aggressive  work,  22;  Christianity  aggressive,  23. 

Aims  important^,  136  ;  aims  of  the  Sunday-school  teacher,  138-149. 

Alexander',  Dr.  Archibald's  reading  of  the  Scripture,  iii ;  his  powers  as  a 

questioner,  158. 
_A.merican  Sit  iidny- School  Unf  on,  its  importance  as  3  missionary  agency, 

31  ;  the  duty  of  giving  it  a  liberal  support,  31. 
Anniversaries,  346. 

A.pparntus  for  Sunday-schools  greatly  increased,  400. 
Attendance  of  scholars  should  be  aimed  at  by  the  teachers,  138;  irregular 

attendance  of  teachers,  230. 
Attention  of  a  class,  how  gained,  177-184. 

Basis  of  Sunday-school  organization,  35. 

Hell,  ringing  the  bell  a  bad  way  of  stopping  noise,  55  ;  never  to  be  used  for 
arresting  disorder,  83. 

Sible  Knowledge,  the  great  means  both  of  conversion  and  of  growth  in  ho- 
liness, 16  ;  the  general  contents  of  the  Bible  to  be  learned,  226;  Bible  to  be 
read  through  in  concert,  229. 

Hooks  to  be  closed  during  recitation,  165 ;  teaching  out  of  book,  171-179 ; 
the  enormous  number  of  Sunday-school  books  now  published,  273-275; 
how  to  select,  277-291 ;  modes  of  distributing,  291-310 ;  multiplication  of 
Sunday-school  books,  399. 

JBusy,  how  to  keep  scholars  busy,  164- 

Card,  library,  300. 

Catalogue  of  library  needed,  299. 

Children  to  be  trained  and  educated  in  the  beliefs  of  the  gospel,  17;  this 

training  to  be  accomplished  in  great  measure  by  means  of  a  school,  18; 

more  than  half  the  children  out  of  the  Sunday-school,  30 ;  children's  meet* 

ings  at  Conventions,  256  ;  attendance  in  church,  328. 

407 


4o8  INDEX. 


C?iUd*s  Scripture  Question-book,  227. 

Chorister,  necessity  of  having  one  in  the  school,  42. 

Christianization,  to  be  accomplished  in  great  measure  by  education.  17. 

Church,  the  church  bound  to  indoctrinate  the  young  in  Christian  knowledge 
and  principles,  18  ;  an  organization  for  propagating  the  truth,  25  ;  bound  to 
be  aggressive,  25  ;  bound  to  look  after  neglected  children  outside  of  its  pale, 
27 :  church  court  ought  to  take  supervision  of  this  matter,  28 ;  has  prop- 
erly the  control  of  the  Sunday-school,  and  should  appoint  and  direct  the 
superintendent,  35,  36 ;  church  action  not  needed  in  Conventions,  250-252  ; 
relation  of  church  to  Sunday-school,  310;  the  church  should  control  the 
Sunday-school,  312-318;  attendance  of  children  in  church,  328. 

Class  teaching,  153-157  ;  questioning  a  class,  157-165  ;  keeping  class  all  en- 
gaged, 169  ;  how  to  hold  the  attention  of  a  class,  177-184. 

Classification  to  be  made  by  superintendent,  69  ;  difficulty  of  the  subject,  70 ; 
rules  to  be  observed,  71-76  ;  classifying  a  new  school,  393. 

Comprehension  of  the  scholars,  how  to  reach  it,  193. 

Conventions  to  be  attended  by  teachers,  241 ;  State  Conventions,  248  ;  Coun- 
ty Conventions,  252. 

Conversion  of  scholars  the  first  aim  of  the  Sunday-school  teacher,  14 ;  con- 
verts to  be  built  up  in  holiness,  15  ;  winning  souls,  128-131 ;  aiming  at  their 
conversion,  147. 

Cost  of  opening  a  new  school,  391,  392. 

County  Conventions,  rules  for  conducting  them,  252. 

Deficiencies  in  the  work  accomplished,  20. 

Definite  lessons  should  be  assigned,  206. 

Denoniitiationalistn  needed  and  not  needed  in  the  Sunday-school  work, 
249-252. 

Devotional  service,  allotment  of  time  for  it,  94-96 ;  of  what  it  should  con- 
sist, 96. 

Disorder,  wherein  it  consists,  80. 

Doctrine,  scriptural,  the  means  of  building  up  young  converts  in  holiness,  i6; 
doctrine  of  the  Sunday-school  to  be  scriptural,  145. 

Doors  to  be  closed  and  locked  during  the  opening  service,  97. 

Dull  scholars  not  to  be  overlooked,  144. 

Earnestness  needed  in  reading  the  Scriptures,  110. 

Encouragement  to  be  given  to  the  dull,  224. 

Evangelization  by  means  of  Sunday-schools,  16. 

Every  scholar  to  have  a  share  of  the  teacher's  attention,  143. 

Example  of  prayer,  117,  118. 

Executive  ablHty  wanted  in  the  superintendent,  54. 

Expulsioti  asa  means  of  government  in  Sunday-schools,  90. 


INDEX.  409 

Eyea,  how  to  be  used  in  reading  a  hymn  or  a  passage  of  Scripture  publicly, 

107,  114. 
yttst  jyaming,  182. 

Fitch,  his  rule  about  keeping  the  scholars  busy,  184-187. 
JPorniality  in  reading  the  Scriptures,  109. 
Freshness  in  teaching,  205. 
Fretful,  fussy,  disqualifications  in  a  superintendent,  54. 

Gardiner,  Mary,  worthy  of  imitation,  130. 
Geist's  adhesive  labels,  303. 

Gftve^rntnent  to  be  exercised  in  Sunday-school,  87. 
Green,  Ashbel,  anecdotes  of  him,  119. 
G-uthrie,  his  skill  in  illustration,  204. 

Melp  from  the  Great  Teacher,  131-135. 

Hymn,  mode  of  giving  it  out,  103  ;  waiting  for  the  scholars  to  find  it,  103 ; 
•  care  in  announcing  the  right  number,  104 ;  grammatical  blunders  in  an- 
nouncing the  hymn,  106  ;  object  of  reading  the  hymn  before  reading  it,  106; 
looking  at  the  scholars  while  reading,  107, 

Idiot  child,  a  remarkable  instance,  196. 

Jllustrntious  in  teaching  should  be  varied,  204 ;  additional  illustrations,  207. 

Individual  peculiarities,  how  far  to  be  observed  in  classifying  a  school,  76. 

Instittites,  County,  different  from  a  Convention,  257 ;  programmes,  260-264. 

Instruction  to  be  scriptural,  145. 

Intellectual  j^roffress,  how  far  to  be  considered  in  classifying  scholars,  75. 

Irregularity  of  attendance,  230. 

Knowledge  of  scholars  and  teachers  and  of  what  is  passing  in  the  school  im- 
portant to  superintendent,  60-63  :  knowledge  of  the  lesson,  64. 

Ziancaster,  Joseph,  his  mistake,  397. 

last  resort  in  Sunday-school  government,  87. 

lateness  encouraged  by  waiting  for  the  laggards,  99. 

Lesson,  the  teacher  should  aim  to  secure  the  study  of  it  by  the  scholars,  138 ; 
to  be  studied  by  the  teacher,  180;  should  be  definite,  206;  preparation  by 
the  teacher,  210;  lesson  io  the  class,  212;  getting  the  scholars  to  learn 
the  lesson,  221 ;  lessons  interrupted  by  the  librarians,  296  ;  uniform  lessons, 

379- 
Librarian,  his  appointment  and  qualifications,  41  ;  his  work,  303-;  librarian 

in  a  small  country  school,  395. 
Library  for  teachers  a  necessity,  241 ;  Sunday  school  library,  how  to  select  it, 

273-291  ;  how  to  manage  it,  291-309.;   library  card,  201 ;  library  Register, 

306  ;  use  of  library  books  in  the  summer,  362. 
35 


4IO  INDEX. 

Itove  for  souls  the  first  qualification  of  the  teacher,  124-127";  power  of  love  in 
teaching,  189-193. 

Matin,  Horace,  report  on  Prussian  teaching,  175. 

Mniiner  in  prayer,  119;  manner  in  teaching  should  be  varied,  202. 

M^cC'osJif  his  position  in  regard  to  ecclesiastical  supervision  of  Sunday-schools, 
317- 

M<^flitation  needed  as  a  preparation  for  reading  the  Scripture,  112. 

Meeting,  teachers'  weekly,  265. 

Memoi'i/,  Scripture  to  be  memorized,  146-167 ;  the  memory  especially  to  be 
cultivated  in  Sunday-school,  152;  teachers  should  commit  the  verses,  212; 
how  to  get  the  scholars  to  commit  to  memory,  237. 

MetJiods  wear  out,  200. 

Methodists,  their  position  in  regard  to  Sunday-schools,  315. 

Minister,  his  relation  to  the  Sunday-school,  318. 

Mission  tvork  of  the  Sunday-school,  21 ;  more  than  missionaries  needed,  23 ; 
the  Sunday-school  a  missionary  agency,  29 ;  missionaries  for  pioneer  re- 
gions, 30;  the  missionary  work  of  the  American  Sunday-School  Union,  31 ; 
mission  work  everywhere,  31 ;  mission  work  to  be  done  by  church  schools, 
32  ;  missionary  collections,  97. 

Morristoivn,  N.  J.,  programme  of  Institute  held  there,  261. 

Music  in  Sunday-school,  340 ;  improvements  in  Sunday-school  music,  401, 

JN'eiff  scholars,  how  to  be  disposed  of,  77  ;  new  school,  how  to  start  one,  385. 

Netvell,  report  on  normal  school  teaching,  174. 

Jfetvton,  Dr.,  referred  to,  104. 

Noise^  how  to  avoid  it,  55  ;  sources  of  noise,  81. 

Jfornial  Institutes  should  be  got  up  by  the  pastors  of  the  place  acting  in 

concert,  296  ;  the  teachers'  weekly  meeting  should  be  a  normal  class,  270. 
Notices,  rules  to  be  observed  in  regard  to  them,  101. 
Numbering  books,  313. 

Objects  of  the  Sunday-school,  13-33  '>  first  object  the  conversion  of  the  schol- 
ars, 14;  building  up  the  young  converts  in  holiness,  15-20;  second  object, 
a  mission  agency  for  the  unevangelized,  21-33. 

Opening  school  punctually,  99. 

Order,  difficulty  of  maintaining  it  in  Sunday-school,  79  ;  doing  things  quietly, 
80 ;  doing  things  at  the  right  time,  83  ;  keeping  things  and  persons  in  place, 
84 ;  order  popular  with  the  scholars,  91 ;  the  teacher  should  aim  to  keep 
order,  139  ;  how  it  is  to  be  done,  140,  141. 

OrganizHtion  of  the  Sunday-school,  34 ;  the  Sunday-school  not  an  inde- 
pendent concern,  but  a  branch  of  the  operations  of  the  church,  35,  36;  ap- 
pointment of  superintendent,  37  ;  other  officers,  40 

Out,  going  out  rarely  to  be  allowed,  85. 


INDEX.  411 

Paper,  a  teachers'  paper  needed  by  every  Sunday-school  teacher,  239. 

Parallel  texts,  how  to  use  them,  215. 

Parents,  their  relation  to  the  Sunday-school,  324. 

Pastors  should  concert  together  in  getting  up  a  Normal  Institute,  246 ;  rela- 
tion of  the  pastor  to  the  Sunday-school,  318. 

Pause  before  and  after  prayer,  120. 

Penalties,  the  ordinary  school  penalties  unknown  in  Sunday-school,  150. 

Personal  influence  to  be  exercised  by  the  superintendent,  57. 

Piety  the  first  qualification  of  the  superintendent,  51,  52. 

Place,  things  and  persons  to  be  kept  in  place,  84. 

Power  to  be  exercised  in  Sunday-school  when  necessary,  but  no  show  of  it,  89. 

Prayer,  rules  for  the  opening  prayer  in  Sunday-school,  115 ;  an  example,  n6; 
another  example,  118. 

Practical  thoughts  to  be  prepared,  219. 

Preparation  for  the  opening  service,  100 ;  preparation  for  the  lesson  by  the 
scholar,  180  ;  preparation  by  the  teacher,  210-220. 

Presbyterians,  their  action  on  Sunday-schools,  315-318. 

Programme,  importance  of  having  one,  93  ;  should  be  supreme,  94  ;  a  test 
of  the  superintendent's  idea  of  what  the  school  is,  94;  allotment  of  time, 
95-97;  sample  programme,  98;  programme  of  Teachers'  Institute,  260-264. 

Progress  in  the  Sunday-school  cause,  signs  of  it,  396. 

Punctttality  in  opening,  99,  100. 

Quest ion-booJiS,  their  true  use,  162,  173,  180,  215. 
Question  draiver,  its  use  at  Institutes,  258. 
Questioning  a  class,  157-165. 
Quietly,  doing  things  quietly,  80. 

Heading  hymns  and  Scripture,  107-115. 

Heading  committee  for  selecting  library  books,  279. 

Recitation,  how  to  conduct  it,  165-171. 

References f  how  to  be  used,  167. 

Register  number,  301  ;  library  Register,  306. 

Religious  teaching  best  effected,  like  other  teaching,  by  means  of  schools, 

18  ;  more  practical  than  ordinary  teaching,  150. 
Richards,  how  he  reached  the  understanding  of  an  idiot,  196. 
Robert  Raikes,  his  mistake,  397. 

Salvation  of  the  scholar  the  great  end  of  the  teacher,  14-20  ;  124-131. 

Scholars  to  be  kept  busy,  169,  184-189;  to  do  most  of  the  talking,  170;  gain- 
ing their  affections,  189-193 ;  reaching  their  comprehension,  193-195  ;  get- 
ting them  to  learn  the  lesson,  221  ;  treatment  of  new  scholars,  368  ;  absen- 
teeism, how  to  be  remedied,  374  ;  duty  of  visiting  them,  375-379. 

Schools  needed  for  religious  teaching  as  much  as  for  other  teaching,  19. 


412  INDEX. 

Scriptures,  mode  of  reading  them  in  school,  io8 ;  formality  to  be  avoided, 
109;  earnestness,  no;  previous  study  required,  in;  meditation  on  the 
passage,  112;  alternate  reading,  114;  to  be  committed  to  m^^mory,  146,  167. 

Seat,  scholars  not  to  be  allowed  to  leave  their  seats,  85. 

Secretary,  his  appointment  and  duties,  40. 

Size,  scholars',  74  ;  how  far  to  be  considered  in  classifying  scholars,  72. 

Skipping  about  in  reciting,  168. 

Social  condition,  how  far  to  be  considered  in  classifying  scholars,  74. 

Spirit,  Holy,  his  help  needed  by  the  teacher,  125  ;  how  to  be  obtained,  127; 
the  Great  Teacher,  131;  his  influence  a  great  mystery,  133;  seeking  his 
aid,  220. 

Spy,  superintendent  should  not  play  the  spy,  62. 

Squeah-leather  not  wanted  in  the  superintendent's  boots,  82. 

State  Conventions  should  be  union,  not  denominational,  248. 

Study  needed  as  a  preparation  for  reading  the  Scriptures  in  opening  school, 
110-112;  study  of  lesson  by  the  scholars,  136;  critical  study  of  the  mean- 
ing, 217. 

Summer,  closing  schools  in  summer,  359  ;  what  is  to  be  done  in  the  summer 
months,  361. 

Sunday-school,  its  objects,  13-33  >  first  object,  the  conversion  and  sanctifica- 
tion  of  its  scholars,  14-20 ;  second  object,  a  means  of  Christianizing  the 
masses,  21-33  '•  organization,  34-47 ;  not  an  independent  institution,  but  a 
department  of  the  church's  work,  34-36;  appointment  of  its  superintendent, 
37 ;  of  its  other  officers,  40  ;  appointment  of  teachers,  43  ;  qualifications  of 
superintendent,  48-123  ;  earnest  piety,  50 ;  executive  ability,  52  ;  things  not 
wanted,  54 ;  personal  influence,  57  ;  knowledge  of  the  school,  61 ;  and  of 
the  lesson,  64  ;  bestowing  attention  upon  all,  65 ;  sympathy  with  all,  67 ; 
classification,  69 ;  maintaining  order,  78  ;  exercising  government,  87  ;  mak- 
ing a  programme,  93  ;  punctuality  in  opening,  99 ;  preparation  for  the  open- 
ing, 100 ;  giving  out  notices  in  school,  loi ;  reading  the  hymn,  103 ;  read- 
ing the  Scriptures,  108  ;  the  opening  prayer,  115  ;  two  examples  of  prayer, 
117,  118  ;  the  teacher,  first  qualification,  124  ;  winning  souls,  128  ;  help  from 
the  Great  Teacher,  131  ;  having  an  aim,  136 ;  difference  between  teaching  in 
Sunday-school  and  in  other  schools,  149;  class  teaching,  153  ;  how  to  ques- 
tion a  class,  157;  how  to  conduct  a  recitation,  165;  teaching  out  of  book, 
171 ;  holding  the  attention,  177  ;  keeping  scholars  busy,  184 ;  gaining  their  af- 
fections, 189;  reaching  their  comprehension,  193;  variety  in  teaching,  199; 
having  a  definite  lesson,  206 ;  the  teacher's  preparation  for  the  lesson,  210; 
getting  the  scholars  to  learn  the  lesson,  221  ;  securing  acquaintance  with 
the  general  contents  of  Scripture,  226  ;  irregular  attendance  of  teachers, 
230 ;  visiting  scholars,  233  •  keeping  up  with  the  times,  237 ;  necessity  of 
teachers  meeting  in  council,  244 ;  State  Conventions,  248 ;  County  Con- 
ventions, 252 ;  County  Institutes,  257  •  weekly  meetings,  265 ;  the  library, 
how  to  select  it,  273-297  ;  how  to  manage  the. library,  297-309;  relation  of 


INDEX.  413 

the  Sunday-school  to  the  church,  310;  relation  to  the  minister,  318;  to  the 
parents,  324;  attendance  of  the  scholars  upon  church,  328;  school  accom- 
modations, 335  ;  Sunday-school  music,  340 ;  anniversaries,  346  ;  closing 
school  in  winter,  355;  closing  in  summer,  359;  after  vacation,  365:  treat- 
ment of  new  scholars,  368;  absenteeism,  374;  uniform  lessons,  379;  how 
to  start  a  new  school,  385;  is  the  Sunday-school  cause  making  progress? 
396 ;  evidences  of  progress,  398. 

Superinti;}idvnt  should  be  appointed  by  the  church,  not  elected  by  the 
teachers,  37-40;  superintendent  should  select  the  secretary,  librarian,  chor- 
ister and  teachers,  and  displace  them  when  necessary,  40-45  ;  importance 
of  the  office,  48,  49 ;  example  of  incapacity,  49 ;  earnest  piety  the  first  qual- 
ification, 50  ;  executive  ability,  52,  53  ;  should  not  be  fussy,  54  ;  nor  fretful, 
54 ;  nor  noisy,  55  ;  nor  a  great  talker,  56 ;  personal  influence,  57 ;  should 
put  forth  his  sympathies,  58,  59  :  should  awaken  his  sympathies  by  making 
himself  acquainted  with  the  condition  of  the  scholars,  60;  should  know 
what  is  going  on  in  his  school,  61  ;  should  know  the  lesson,  64  ;  should  be- 
stow attention  on  all,  66,  67  ;  should  bestow  his  sympathies  upon  all,  68 ; 
classifying  the  school,  69  ;  difiSculty  of  classifying,  70  ;  age  as  a  ground  for 
classification,  71  ;  size,  72;  social  condition,  74;  intellectual  progress,  75; 
individual  peculiarities,  76 ;  maintaining  order,  78  ;  doing  things  quietly,  80  : 
doing  things  at  the  right  time,  83  ;  keeping  things  and  people  in  place,  84  ; 
exercising  government,  87  ;  making  a  programme,  93  ;  opening  school  punc- 
tually, 99 ;  preparation  for  the  opening  service,  100 ;  giving  out  notices  in 
school,  loi ;  giving  out  the  hymn,  103;  reading  the  Scriptures.  108;  making 
the  opening  prayer,  115;  manner  in  prayer,  119:  pausing  before  and  after 
prayer,  120. 

Support  of  Sunday-schools  entirely  inadequate,  19;  compared  with  the  sup- 
port of  the  secular  schools,  20. 

Sympathy  a  power  in  the  superintendent,  58;  should  be  bestowed  upon 
all,  67. 

TalJcative  superintendent  a  nuisance,  56. 

Teachers  to  be  appointed  by  the  superintendent,  43-46;  inconvenience  of  any 
other  mode  of  selection  or  displacement,  44;  teachers  not  to  be  interrupted 
while  giving  their  lesson,  84  ;  the  amount  to  be  guarded  in  the  programme, 
95;  first  qualification  of  the  teacher,  124;  duty  of  winning  souls,  128;  seek- 
ing help  from  the  Great  Teacher,  131  ;  having  an  aim,  136;  securing  reg- 
ular attendance,  138;  securing  the  study  of  the  lesson,  138  ;  keeping  ordei, 
139 ;  teaching  something,  142 ;  teaching  something  additional  every  Sun- 
day, 143;  teaching  something  to  every  scholar,  143;  making  the  teaching 
scriptural,  145 ;  getting  the  scholars  to  commit  Scripture  to  memory,  146 ; 
aiming  to  secure  the  conversion  of  scholars,  147  ;  difference  between  teach- 
ing in  Sunday-school  and  in  other  schools,  149  ;  class  teaching,  153;  how  to 
question  a  class,  157;  how  to  conduct  a  recitation,  165;  teaching  out  of 
35* 


414  INDEX, 

book,  171;  holding  the  attention,  177;  keeping  the  scholars  busy,  184 
gaining  their  affections,  189;  reaching  their  comprehension,  193;  studying 
variety,  199  ;  assigning  a  definite  lesson,  206;  preparing  for  the  lesson,  210; 
committing  the  verses  to  memory,  212;  plan  in  regard  to  the  parallel  texts, 
215;  use  of  the  question-book,  215;  preparing  illustrations,  217;  critical 
study  of  the  meaning,  217;  beginning  preparation  early  in  the  week,  220; 
how  to  get  the  scholars  to  learn  the  lesson,  221 ;  acquaintance  with  the  gen- 
eral contents  of  Scripture,  226 ;  irregular  attendance  of  teachers,  230 ;  visit- 
ing scholars,  232 ;  keeping  up  with  the  times,  237 ;  taking  a  teachers' 
paper,  239 ;  having  a  teachers'  library,  241 ;  attending  conventions,  241 ; 
necessity  of  meeting  in  council,  244;  State  Conventions,  248;  County  Con- 
ventions, 252;  County  Institutes,  257;  Institute  programmes,  260;  weekly 
meetings,  265  ;  teacher  should  provide  for  his  class  in  summer  before  leav- 
ing the  city,  363. 

Text-hook,  how  to  be  used  in  teaching,  171-177. 

Theological  Seminaries  should  educate  their  students  in  a  knowledge  of 
the  Sunday-school  work,  245. 

Time,  doing  things  in  time,  83;  apportionment  of  time  to  the  different  parts  of 
the  services,  94-98. 

Todd,  his  skill  in  illustration.  204. 

Topics  in  teaching  should  be  varied,  203 

Uniform  lessons,  379. 

Vacation,  important  work  to  be  done  in  September,  365. 
Variety  important  in  teaching,  199-209. 
Verses  to  be  recited  from  memory,  166,  212. 
Visiting  scholars,  233,  375-379- 

Wellington,  Duke  of  Wellington's  mode  of  intimidating  a  mob,  89. 

Winning  souls  the  great  end  of  the  teacher,  128. 

Winter,  closing  schools  in  winter,  355. 

Work,  the  work  of  Christians  to  Christianize  the  world,  17. 


THE     END, 


PUBLICATIONS  OF 

J.  C.  Garrigues  &  Co., 

No.    608    ARCH    STREET, 

PHILADELPHIA. 


PALESTINE  AND  OTHER  PARTS  OF  SYRIA. 

By  Prof.  H.  S.  Osborn  and  Dr.  Lyman  Coleman. 
The  largest  and  best  Wall  Map  of  the  Holy  Land 
ever  published  in  any  age  or  country.  Size,  six  by 
nine  feet 15.00 

SONGS  OF  GLADNESS. 

By  J.  E.  Gould.  A  choice  Music  Book  for  Sabbath- 
schools  of  all  denominations,  containing  more  hymns 
than  any  other  collection  at  a  similar  price.  Per  100 
copies,  in  pasteboard  covers 30.00 

24  BEAUTIFUL  CONCERT  EXERCISES. 

Tract  form.     Per  set 86 


VALUABLE  BOOKS  FOR  SUNDAY-SCHOOLS. 

AGNES  WILBUR;  or,  A  Daughter's  Influence. 

By  Catharine  M.  Trowbridge.    3  illustrations 90 

ARTHUR  MERTON;  or.  Sinning  and  Sorrowing. 

By  Caroline  E.  Kelly.     4  illustrations 1.25 

BARBARA  ST.  JOHN. 

By  P.  B.  Chamberlain.    4  illustrations 1.25 

BETTER  THAN  RUBIES;  or,  Mabel's  Treasure. 

By  Emma  F.  R.  Campbell.     4  illustrations 1.25 

FRIDAY  LOWE. 

By  Mrs.  C.  E.  Kelly  Davis.     4  illustrations 1.25 

GRACE  MANSFIELD'S  EXPERIMENT. 

By  Mrs.  A.  K.  Dunning.     3  illustrations 90 

HEAVENWARD— EARTHWARD. 

By  Harriet  B.  McKeever.     4  illustrations I?i.2!; 


PUBLICATIONS   OF  J.    C.    GARRIGUES  &-    CO. 

HELEN  MACGREGOR;  or,  Conquest  and  Sacrifice. 
By  Mrs.  C.  Y.  Barlow.     4  illustrations 1.25 

JOHN  BRETT'S  HOUSEHOLD. 

By  Mrs.  C.  E.  Kelly  Davis.     3  illustrations 90 

LIFE-SCENES  FROM  THE  FOUR  GOSPELS. 

By  Rev.  George  Jones,  M.A.     25  illustrations 2.00 

LIFE-SCENES  FROM  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT. 
By  Rev.  George  Jones,  M.A.     25  illusti '\tions 2,00 

MISTAKES  OF  EDUCATED  MEN. 

By  John  S.  Hart,  LL.D 50 

ONE  HUNDRED  GOLD   DOLLARS. 

By  Mrs.  J.  E.  McConaughy.     3  illustrations 9c 

PRESCOTTS.     (THE) 

By  Content  Whipple,     i  illustration 60 

ROSE  THORPE'S  AMBITION. 

By  Mrs.  M.  E.  Rockwell.     3  illustrations 1.25 

SEQUEL  TO  FRIDAY  LOWE. 

By  Mrs.  C.  E.  Kelly  Davis.     4  illustrations 1.25 

STELLA  ASHTON;  or,  Conquered  Faults. 

By  Mrs.  C.  Y.  Barlow.     3  illustrations 90 

THE  HOME  VINEYARD:  Sketches  of  Mission  Work. 
By  Caroline  E.  Kelly.    3  illustrations 80 

THE  SABBATH-SCHOOL  INDEX. 

By  R.  G.  Pardee,  A.M.     With  Portrait  on  Stee] 1. 25 

THE  SUNDAY-SCHOOL  IDEA. 

By  John  S.  Hart,  LL.D 1.50 

THE  TEACHER'S  GUIDE  TO  PALESTINE. 

By  Prof.  H.  S.  Osborn.     With  a  Map 65 

TILMAN  LORING;  or,  Minister  or  Merchant. 

By  Rev.  J.  K.  Nutting.     3  illustrations 90 

TOM   MILLER;  or.  After  Many  Days. 

By  Mrs.  M.  E.  Rockwell.     4  illustrations 1.25 


^iii"ni^M?M„.II'^°'°?'*^3'  Seminary  Libraries 


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